Scary Movies
by cutee2054
Summary: Tohru wants to face her fears and try to watch a scary movie, so Kyo comes with her. Tohru&Kyo&In the dark! Oh la la! Not telling who pairs will be. A bit off topic, but not too much off character. Recent mysterious twists with Shigure and Hatori. Ch27 up
1. Tohru's Got the Blues

Disclaimer: I don't own this book, the characters and yadda, yadda, yadda…

* * *

_Sigh I really miss Uo-Chan and Hana-Chan. It seems as though we never get to spend time together any more…_

"Hello! Torhu? I've been calling your name for the past minute!"

Tohru and Kyo were sitting together on the roof top again. For some reason, Tohru was feeling sort of down. When she went to the roof to think, she had forgotten that Kyo might be there. She had gone up on the rooftop wanting to be alone and think, but she was still glad that he was there.

"What! Oh, I'm so sorry! I was just-"

Kyo just grinned and ruffled her hair.

"It's okay you dope"

"Oh…okay."

And they were quiet. After a few more minutes of silence, Tohru asked him:

"Kyo? How do you get though not seeing friends in a long time?"

Kyo didn't reply. He never had any real friends, scared that his secret might somehow get out if he were ever comfortable and relaxed with people-like the way he was with Tohru-everything would get out somehow.

But despite Kyo's no-response, Tohru went on anyway.

"Because I really miss Uo-Chan and Hana-Chan…"

"Well why don't you just invite them over? Shigure never misses a chance to have innocent high school girls over…Although I don't think you could call that Uo-Chan 'innocent'" said Kyo snickering. But Tohru continued her thoughts aloud.

"I never realized before that we had very little in common…I must have made them so miserable! I've been so selfish!" and then Tohru started tearing a little.

"What are you talking about! Can't you see that they love being with you?" _And bothering me_, Kyo thought with a half-smile, and half-grimace.

"Yeah, because they're such great friends! They always make me feel happy!-"

"And you make them happy too! Really, they always smile a lot more when they're with you" _How can she not see that?_ Kyo thought. Anyone with eyes or ears can tell that they love Tohru more than anything.

"Hmmmm…" And then Tohru was thoughtful again.

There were a few minutes of silence again, and Kyo let Tohru pursue her thoughts silently again.

When she came out of her reverie she had a plan to bring her and Uo-Chan, and Hana-Chan closer.

"You'll _what_!" Kyo thought that her plan was ridiculous, but it _was_ adorable the way her lips sort of scrunched up when she was determined to do something.

"Yeah! They both like watching scary movies! So if I could watch it _with _them, we could all have a good time!"

"Yeah…but Tohru? Don't you always have nightmares when you see scary movies? I mean, you woke up practically crying in your sleep after you saw 'The Night Before Christmas'…"

"Oh yeah…" Tohru looked sad for a moment, but then her face glowed again.

"That's okay, cause I'll get you and Yuki to come with me!"

_Damn rat,_ Kyo muttered to himself.

"Well, goodnight then" said Tohru, than scampered down the roof with her face a-glow.

Sorry it's so short, but I promise it'll be worth it! Please send review! This is my first fanfic so don't flame! Send all and any ideas! I promise to update regularly because I'm on summer break and bored out of my mind!

XD


	2. Tricked into Town

_The next day…_

When Tohru woke up, she found Shigure and Kyo (as usual) already awake.

"Good Morning!"

Tohru shyly approached Shigure who was reading the paper.

"Um…I know there's a lot to do around the house, but I was wondering if I could go into town" said Tohru meekly. Actually, it sounded more like this:

"Um…Iknowthere'salottodoaroundthehousebutIwaswondering_breath_ifI

couldgointotown"

"Why certainly" said Shigure with a chuckle. "As long as you have a chaperone" then he looked towards Kyo. "Kyon-kichi!"

"What! And don't call me that!" Kyo hated that name, but he didn't know if he was annoyed or happy when Tohru giggled a little bit at it.

"Would you like to go into town today?" Shigure said innocently…which is what made Kyo suspicious.

"Why?" Kyo said mistrustfully. "I'm not going to go to do your dirty work"

"There's no 'dirty work' as you put it, I'm just asking you if you'd like to go to town today" said Shigure.

"Well…" Kyo glanced at Tohru, whose face gave no help.

"Well Tohru, it seems that the cat doesn't wish to go into town today, therefore _I _will have to be your chaperone" said Shigure, with the look of a person with an ulterior (is that the word…I can't remember XD) motive. "What would you like to do today? First we can go to lunch at a cozy little restaurant, and then we'll go shopping, then we can go to the park and share an ice cream cone-"

"I NEVER SAID THAT I DIDN'T WANT TO GO YOU PERV! Letting Tohru go with you is dangerous, _I'll _go with her!"

"Hmmm…" Shigure began reading the paper again as if nothing had just happened. "Tohru's cat in shining armor come to her rescue" Shigure said with a smirk, which made Kyo blush terribly, "Very well…have a good time!" and Shigure continued to calmly read the paper.

"Come on, let's go" said Kyo still fuming.

"Okay! I'm just going to go and get Yuki-Kun!" Tohru said excitedly!

Tohru went into Yuki-Kun's room expecting him to be asleep there.

"Yuki-Kun?" Tohru had entered the room and only found the pillow and sheets askew. "Oh no! Something's happened to Yuki-Kun!" and then Tohru started dashing around the room hoping to find a clue to Yuki's disappearance.

"Tohru! Tohru, what's wrong!" said Kyo bursting into the room full hero-style.

"Yuki-Kun's gone! He's not in bed and-"

"Oh yes" said Shigure slinking in, "Yuki stepped out early today to do some errands with the student council"

"_Good riddance_" muttered Kyo.

"Oh…well…" Tohru looked a little sad that Yuki wouldn't be there, but then perked up. "Well at least _you're_ there Kyo-Kun, we'll have lots of fun!" Tohru said with all the enthusiasm of a child going to a candy store for the first time.

"Well you to get going now, I expect my editor to be stopping by soon" Shigure said with a wink "Now have fun you two!"

_Well at least that rat's not here_, Kyo thought. "Yeah, let's go!"

"Yay!" and Tohru ran out the door with Kyo following her.

"So what are we going to see?" Kyo asked Tohru eyeing the board that shows the movies playing.

"Hmmm…how about…that?' and Tohru pointing to a movie that was so scary that even Kyo was a little scared of it.

"Let's see that one" Kyo pointed to a cheesy thriller called 'Your Worst Nightmare'.

"Um…sure…but it _is_ scary right? Because that's why I came here and-"

"Yeah, _sigh_ I know" Kyo knew that she just came to try and face her fears…but he had hoped that she wouldn't mention that so he could at least _pretend_ that they were simply going to the movies together.

Hoped you like it! And a super special thanks to all who left reviews! As always, send comments and ideas! And don't worry, I'll always update in no longer than a week or two!


	3. All the Way in the Back

"Alright! We'll see that one!" And Tohru hopped excitedly next to Kyo who was paying for the tickets.

"Two for 'Your Worst Nightmare'" said Kyo-Kun to a pimply teenager (about their age) at the ticket booth. Kyo looked daggers at the kid when he saw him give Tohru an 'interested' glance.

"There you go" the ticket booth guy said, "Have a nice time" and with a last stare at Tohru's behind, he dealt with the next customer.

"Oh! Can we get popcorn Kyo-Kun! Pleeeease! I LOVE popcorn!"

_I'm not sure I'll have enough money…but_-_aw man!-not puppy dog eyes! It's enough she's adorable! I-We-I'll-Ug!_ "Yeah, sure" somehow he had managed to sound like he hadn't just had an internal argument with himself.

After they got the popcorn from the concession stand, Kyo and Tohru started walking towards the theater the movie was in when they bumped into…

"Ayame! What the hell are you doing here!" Shigure must have told them or something…_that sneaky bastard._

'Why, Kyon-Kichi! What are you doing here? And with the little princess" He added, which made Tohru blush and Kyo steam.

"Did Shigure send you here to spy on us! Cause if you did-"

"Nonsense!" Ayame interrupted "I was merely on my way to see a delightful little movie about…something about nightmares, or something of the sort"

"Aw crap, that's the same movie we're seeing!" Kyo moaned. When Ayame heard that, he raised a questioning eyebrow at Tohru, who (as always) blushed furiously.

"How splendid! We could-"

"No! Me and Tohru are going to sit _away_ from you. And you'll act like you don't know us during the movie! Okay!" _Great, now the movie's going to be ruined, with Ayame spying on us…not that I was going to do… something he shouldn't see or anything…_thought Kyo, who started blushing a bit when he thought that last part. 'Cause, he couldn't say that he _expected _anything to happen, but he couldn't say that he _didn't_ expect anything to happen.

"Fine, fine" and then Ayame started walking away and got out his cell phone 'Tori-San you would not _believe_ who I just saw at the movies today…'

"Come _on_ Kyo-Kun, we might be late!" And since neither had a watch, they both were jogging (as fast as you can with a large bag overflowing with buttery popcorn) to the theater.

Kyo and Tohru rushed in just as the movie had started. When they walked up the aisle, they looked around, the place was packed! _Who'd want to see a crap movie like this?_ wondered Kyo. Kyo scanned the aisles; the only spots left for two were _all_ the way in the back, and a little off center.

"Come on, I found seats" Kyo whispered to Tohru.

"Where?" Tohru couldn't see very well in the dark, but Kyo the cat could.

"Come on" and Kyo gently searched behind him until he found Tohru's hand. His hand closed around hers and he led her up the dark steps all the way to the back of the movie theater.

Tee Hee! Ha! You're all practically melting in your seats now! Mwhaaa haaaa haaaa! It's all part of my evil plan! Now that I've updated two times today, I yawn am going to bed. Toodles!

P.S-Do you want my stories to be longer? I'm a little insecure about the length. Tell me if you want longer chapters or keep the same!

P.P.S-Write to tell me what you want to happen and I'll consider it.


	4. Everything's Going to be Fine

_Aw crap,_ thought Kyo. As he led Tohru by the hand to the last row in the very back (and very dark) of the movie theater, there were only two places to sit. On one side was a guy who looked like he regularly set buildings on fire and gave himself home-made tattoos, on the other side was a girl who was just too tight. Her pants fit her like a second skin, her shirt left everything squishing out (ew!), even her hair was too tight! It was pulled really far back in a high ponytail so far that her eyebrows were where her forehead should have been. But something seemed…askew with her…OMG she had an adams apple! _…have to sit with damn freaks, _Kyo barely mumbled.

"Where do I sit?" Tohru asked when they finally got all the way to the back.

"Sit next to the…uh…" _He-she? Drag-queen? Cross Dresser? _"The person with the ponytail" Kyo said.

When Tohru and Kyo squished themselves down the row, the kid who looked like a gang-banger started intently at Tohru's behind. Kyo noticed all of this and became immediately pissed and alert…for Tohru's sake.

When they finally sat down, they realized that they were both still holding hands. With a blush, they each let go immediately, if not a little reluctantly.

At a part in the movie when the characters wandered into the haunted mansion, Kyo noticed that Tohru's eyes had gone big and that she wasn't breathing.

"We're not swimming…_breathe_" he whispered into her ear.

Tohru, remembering when Kyo was teaching her to swim and that she had forgotten to breathe than too, gave a half-hearted grin and bit her lip.

Kyo wanted to comfort her, he thought that his arm around her shoulder wouldn't make him change. But if she happened to lean in or something and he didn't notice…it could be a little awkward. So instead, he just put his hand through the crook in her arm (near the elbow) and gently entwined their fingers together. He then felt Tohru take a deep breath and calm down a bit.

They continued most of the movie like this, but near the end when the monster was about to kill the boy and his girlfriend, Tohru, almost driven to tears, turned to Kyo.

"Kyo-Kun I can't watch this!" she said with a whimper.

"It's okay" Kyo said calmly "Look at me" then her took her face (gently of course) in one hand and said soothingly: "Just look at me, everything's going to be fine. Okay?"

Tohru nodded with another whimper and a tiny nod.

"Getting it on with your girlfriend huh?" said the gang-banger next to Kyo.

"Shut the hell up!" Kyo yelled at him though gritted teeth, but then turned his attention back to Tohru. "It's okay alright? Just ignore that guy. Everything's going to be fine"

Tohru squeezed her eyes tightly as the monster screamed its death roar, and leaned in closer to Tohru hoping to drown the noise out.

Kyo leaned in closer too to look straight into Tohru's eyes. "Everything's fine okay? The movies almost over. Don't be scared, I'm here" Kyo was a little embarrassed about his last sentence, it sounded like something people said to loved ones.

Finally the credits were rolling and slowly the lights dimmed back on. Tohru peeked one eye open and then opened the other and let out a sigh. She glanced at Kyo's hand that was still upholding her face and blushed while Kyo quickly removed it.

"Uh…" Kyo was trying to break the awkward silence. "Are you okay? You took it better than I thought you would"

"Really?" Tohru asked hopefully.

"Really" Kyo said, glad that she wasn't totally mortified.

"YAY!" Tohru squealed

"Come on, let's get out of here" Kyo grabbed Tohru's hand and led her out into the aisle when he bumped into:

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!"

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OMG! Guys, I had NO idea that a chink of Ch. 4 was missing! Sorry! Sorry! And sorry a million times more! My computers been really screwy lately. Please don't kill me! Kneels expecting to be trampled by angry mob…but nothing happens I'm SOOO unbelievably sorry, I think I might rename this the: "I'msosorry! Chapter!"


	5. The Suave Gangster

"I could ask you the same question _Kyo_" said the mystery person.

It was then Tohru came from behind the little aisle-wall thingy.

"Ah! Yuki-Kun! What are you doing here!" Tohru asked, full of delight.

"Oh, the student council wanted to take a break from planning so we decided to catch a movie"

That's when Tohru noticed the three figures behind Yuki; she had only encountered them briefly when she accidentally walked in on a student council meeting: Manabe, Machi, and the infamous Kimi.

"Oh, hello!" Tohru said bowing.

"Well, well, well" Manabe said slyly, glancing at Kyo and Tohru.

"Where were you sitting Honda-San? I didn't see you." Yuki asked.

"Oh, Kyo-Kun and I-" at which Yuki silently raised an eyebrow and Manabe grin devilishly.

Getting embarrassed, Kyo said: "Yeah, we went to the movies together. Wanna make something of it?" raising a fist. When he got no response, Tohru continued.

"…came in late so we were sitting in the seats all the way in the back-"

This got Manabe quietly singing, "Tohru and Kyo up in a tree...K-I-S-S-" and as he was about to say the 'I', Kyo swing a fist at him, which Manabe avoided (being annoying as he is, he learned at an early age to move back fast when taunting people XD) from experience.

Tohru continued good naturedly, as only Tohru can. "…of theater. Somehow we got two seats together!"

"Kyo…was this a date?" Yuki said icily, but no sound or evidence of a challenge or jealousy were in his voice.

"OH! Kimi LOVES dates! Kimi _always_ kisses boys! Of course the boy has to kiss Kimi first!" babbling as only Kimi can do (and in third person). To Kyo she said: "So did you kiss Tohru ! You have to!"

They both turned red with embarrassment, Tohru because she was sort of scared that it would upset Yuki, and Kyo, because he knew that Manabe would make up some perverted remark and get him all worked up.

"Oh! Um…no…nothing like that! I-We…I'd-I didn't-" (Tohru of course)

"OF COURSE I DIDN'T! THIS ISN'T EVEN A FREAKIN' DATE! AND I'M NOT A PERVERT SO SHUT _UP_ MANABE!" Kyo yelled when Manabe opened his mouth about to say something.

"Besides" Tohru added cheerfully, "We're only friends!" she said it like it was the silliest thing that someone could've forgotten.

"Yeah" Kyo said with no feeling. Feeling a little embarrassed and something else that he's never, yet somehow always felt before, he dug his fingers into his orange hair with unease. "Anyway, Ayame is here and I think that he's spying on up for Shigure-even though there is _NOTHING_ GOING ON!" he said this last statement particularly for Manabe of course (he didn't care what Yuki thought, if Yuki was jealous, it's all the better) "…so I want to get outta here before he can make another call on his cellphone-" Kyo imagined crushing it with his hands "…to Hatori"

"Well we were just finishing up" Yuki said referring to the student council, "Let's all go to that ramen shop down the corner"

"Yay! Kimi loves ramen as much as kissing boys!" Kimi said with her usual enthusiasm.

"Yeah" Manabe said, "The popcorn was horrible, I'm starved. Whaddya say Machi?" and he slung his arm around his sisters' shoulder.

"Yeah…whatever…" Machi just shrugged and was silent (as always) again.

Tohru giggled "This is going to be so much fun! Isn't it Kyo-Kun?"

"Whatever, let's just get this over with" Kyo saw her looking so happy at the idea of being with the others. _Whatever makes her happy_, he thought.

"Come on guys! Hurry _up_!" She struck a heroic pose and then ran (like a girl :P) by the concession stand…and fell.

_Cripes_, Kyo thought as he smacked his forehead, _how in the world de she manage on her own for two weeks! Well better go help her, and before that damn rat does_, he thought, glancing at Yuki. But when he went towards Tohru to help her, he saw her being helped up by that guy with the tattoos and looked like he regularly saw gunfights.

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_(In Tohru's perspective)_

_Oh great! I'm so clumsy! _Tohru thought with a giggle.

That's when she was approached by the same stranger from the theater, the one with the tattoos and looked like he was part of a gang. She was immediately on the alert, but was then surprised when he smiled charmingly at her and spoke.

"Are you okay?" he asked with a chuckle "You took quite a fall there"

Tohru looked into his eyes, they looked glittering…yet somehow warm and friendly. Tohru smiled at him.

"Yeah, I'm fine" and she laughed "I'm always falling down"

He smiled at her again, "Here" his voice was so smooth that Tohru almost swooned, "…let me help you", then the strange, charming guy who looked like a gang member, with the sweetest smile and the dreamiest eyes grabbed Tohru's hand and easily pulled he up.

_Whoa, he's so strong! And he's so sweet! But I must be on my guard, what if he's a bad guy trying to kidnap me or something! _(She'd been reading mystery novels again :P) _Besides, what would Uo-Chan and Hara-Chan feel like if I were gone! _(She gasped at the thought) _Torhu, _she thought to herself, _just be careful, _and she gave a decisive nod

"What?" asked the stranger, referring to the nod she just gave.

"Oh! Um…nothing!" said Tohru blushing a bit.

The stranger was about half a foot taller than Tohru, but somehow she could see straight into his eyes. When he looked down at her she just looked up at him with her mouth open a bit. After she realized that she was plain out staring, she quickly said a humble 'thank you'. He merely chuckled and gave her a wink. As he was about to walk away, she called out to him.

"Um…what's your name? Cause I just want to thank you again and-"

The stranger put his finger against her lips so she would stop talking, and gave another chuckle (this _could_ get annoying). He looked at her mysteriously and said "Don't you recognize me?"

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Ha! Another grinning-at-computer screen chapter! I'm particularly proud of this one. I never I could pull off that whole "gazing deep into his eyes' stuff. I hope you enjoyed it! Oh, and I've a bone to pick with all you people who read my story and didn't leave a review ( sniff) so to get back at you (sorry to all those faithful reviewers that do) I'm not going to update until I get…50?...100?...10?...how about…25 reviews ( I _LOVE_ getting these reviews in my email!). So until I get 25 reviews on this chappie, I'm not going to update it (and I _KNOW_ you want to know who the super suave stranger is!). So there! blows raspberry...sorry immature moment…I'm just rambling aren't I:P Oh well, sorry for talking so much. Toodles!


	6. Ramen Eating Contest

"Er…" Tohru hesitated, not wanting to sound rude. "Um…no…I'm sorry!"

"HEY! Tohru! Stay away from that creep!" Kyo shouted while running towards Tohru (what took him so long anyways?). "HEY!" Kyo was referring to the guy who looked like a gang-banger, "GET AWAY FROM HER!"

The stranger just smiled, "Well" he looked amused at Kyo, "It seems as though I have to go, but we'll meet again, you can count on it" and he gave her a wink.

Kyo finally reached Tohru and put his hands on her shoulders protectively. "Tohru! Are you okay! Did that creep hurt you!"

"Um…n-no…" Tohru said watching the stranger walk off. Then the stranger turned around, "Later" he said, and did this weird gang symbol with his hands, then gave her another one of those sweep-you-off-your-feet smiles, which confused Tohru more than ever.

"Well it seems that Honda-San if fine" Yuki said, calmly strolling towards them. "You're such a mother hen Kyo" Yuki sneered.

"YOU WANNA TKE THIS OUTSIDE, GIRLY MAN! THEN BRING IT ON YOU DAMN RAT!" Kyo shouted with his fists forming.

"You so _loud_, you stupid cat" Yuki retorted, still calm, and ignoring Kyo's challenge to fight.

"No fighting!" Kimi pouted, "Kimi is hungry and wants to eat!"

"Yeah! Hurry up guys! The place is getting crowded!" Manabe said, pointing to the occasional groups of people steadily entering the little ramen shop.

"This is so much fun!" Tohru exclaimed. They were all in a corner booth in the ramen shop. Kimi was on one of the ends and was sitting next to Tohru, next to her was Machi, she was sitting next to Yuki, who was next to Manabe (he refused to sit by Kyo), and Kyo sat on the other end.

"Yeah!" Kimi agreed.

Machi just shrugged, and then was just silent as always.

"We're all squashed! There's no room!" Kyo complained.

"Move over Kun-Kun! You're taking all the room!" Manabe said playfully.

"STOP ELBOWING ME!" Kyo yelled at Manabe who kept twisting side-to-side with his elbows sticking out.

Kimi began to sing the latest pop song and soon had Tohru singing along. (They were terrible by the way XD) This added to the frenzy and chaos at their table, people had begun to stare.

As the waitress came to their table to ask for their order, "QUIET!" Yuki shouted, and then regained his composure once again.

They all had received their orders, and were starting to eat.

Tohru looked at Kimi and they both started giggling. "Isn't this fun!" Tohru asked Machi.

Machi regarded Tohru and then shook her head, "It's too noisy" she said, and continued to quietly eat her ramen.

Manabe had taken too large a helping or noodles and his mouth was stuffed. Kimi saw this and started giggling, and then Tohru saw this and _she _started giggling too. Kyo saw this and got a little upset, Tohru's giggles were usually reserved for _him_…not that he thought that he was special to her or anything…

"You're such a moron Manabe" Kyo said to Manabe, who looked quite proud of him for getting the girls (well two of them anyway) to laugh.

Manabe finally swallowed the huge amount of noodles and retorted: "You're just jealous because you can't eat _half_ as much as me"

"Oh yeah! Fine. Ramen eating contest, you and me. Loser pays for everybody, deal?"

"You're on!" Manabe said fearlessly. "Waitress! Waiiiitress!"

Manabe and Kyo both had five large bowls of steaming ramen in front of them. Kimi was the judge/referee, Tohru would root them both on, and Machi and Yuki decided to ignore them.

"Yippee! Go Kyo-Kun! Go Manabe! Whoo!" Tohru cheered enthusiastically…even though they hadn't started yet. Kyo and Manabe just looked at her questioningly and Kimi giggled. "Oh, well, when it starts I mean…" and Tohru blushed with embarrassment.

"GO!" Kimi said, doing the whole arm swinging down thing. The boys ate like they hadn't eaten in days. It was all a blur watching the food go from the bowl and disappear within and nanosecond. Tohru was too stunned to cheer anyone one. And even Yuki and Machi stopped their quiet conversation to stop and watch.

"After 8 minutes, both boys had slowed considerably and were eating with much less enthusiasm. Both Kyo and Manabe were on their 5th bowl, it was an up and down start, but now they were neck and neck. Kyo looked at the rest of the noodles in his bowl and almost gagged, _Oh God, I'm going to puke_, he thought as he slowly more noodles in his mouth and slowly chewed. Manabe tried to keep a perky exterior to intimidate Kyo, but he didn't know how much longer he could go on! _Can I just pass out now?_ _I've probably gained about 6 pounds!_ Both boys looked like they were going to puke when-

"**_Burp _**I can't take any more of this" Kyo said, you win, and he pushed his bowl away from him in defeat.

"Ha!" Manabe had to pause, because he felt nauseous too "I won!", but before he could gloat anymore, he held his hand to his mouth and ran to the bathroom. "Gross!" Kimi said.

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Sorry it wasn't juicier, I'm a little out of it, and I just wanted to have a fun chapter! I'm pretty sure they part about the mysterious stranger is a bit of a let down, but I'm going to get to it, promise! He's coming up later. I figured this chapter was probably a little disappointing to most of you, but I wanted to say that I'm truly thankful for the reviews you send. Oh, but (not that I'm not grateful or anything) could you please (in your reviews) tell me what I should've done, or who the pairs should be…stuff like that. Or else you're going to get another chapter like this…with no juicy stuff. Because although I do appreciate you guyzos sending reviews, I need stuff to help me, not just: 'update quick' and stuff. Sorry for complaining! Next chappie, I promise to make your toes wriggle and to make you squeal!


	7. Everyone's Going to Yuki's Place!

Kyo was hunched over the counter at the register.

"Just give her the money Kyo" Yuki said impatiently as he tapped his foot and crossed his arms over his chest.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Kyo yelled, "I FELL LIKE I'M GONNA PUKE!"

"Anxious to go somewhere?" Manabe said slyly, when he caught Yuki continuously glancing at Tohru.

"Don't be stupid" Yuki said, it always upset him when Manabe assumed that he wanted to do things especially with Tohru just because he was looking at her or something.

"Are you okay Kyo-Kun! Here, let me help you!" Tohru made a motion to help Kyo stand up.

"NO! LEAVE ME ALONE!", but when Kyo saw a _really_ sad look on Tohru's face, he added: "No, I'm…fine. Besides…" Kyo glanced at Manabe, Kimi, and Machi, "Something might happen" and he looked at her significantly.

At first, Tohru was confused, but when Kyo made a notion with his eyebrows at the committee members (except Yuki) Tohru's face dawned with comprehension.

"Well what can I do to help? You really don't look good" Tohru said.

Kyo was touched; she really cared about him and worried over him, even over a stupid thing like a ramen eating contest.

"Kimi's bored! Kimi wants to go somewhere else now!"

"Yeah, we've been here for hours! Just hurry up and pay the lady!" Manabe yelled at Kyo.

"I AM! JUST SHUT UP!" Kyo yelled, still leaning on the counter, too sick to move.

Yuki, getting fed up with impatience, gave a disgusted sigh and paid the lady for Kyo. "Was that so hard? I thought that the cat could at least do _that_" Yuki said rolling his eyes.

Kyo's hands had balled into fists at his sides, but he said nothing. As much as he hated the rat, Yuki still helped him out back there, especially because didn't have enough money to pay for all of it. _But I _will_ pay him back_! Kyo thought _I wouldn't be able to show my face if I was indebted to that rat._

"See how great our leader is?" Manabe said to no one in particular, and gave Yuki a hearty slap on the back. It took all of Yuki's control not to pound him into the ground like he would to Kyo. "That's why we have to have an _extra_ special school year, to celebrate our president!" Kyo raised an eyebrow at Yuki who didn't respond. "So I propose" Manabe continued, "That we start planning another field trip immediately! Everyone to Yun-Yuns' house!" and Manabe grabbed his sister's arm and led her towards the Shigures' house.

"HEY! You can't just _invite_ yourselves!" Kyo yelled. "You just don't _do_ th-"

"Yay! We'll have so much fun! And I'm sure Shigure won't mind!" Tohru interrupted excitedly, "Oh you guys _have_ to come!"

"Kimi wants to go to Yun-Yuns' house!" Kimi whined, "Kimi wants to go today!" she said hugging Tohru.

Yuki just stood there clenching his teeth and breathing deeply, "Fine" he said "But you're not staying for dinner"

"Alright! This is gonna be awesome!" Manabe said unaffected by Yuki's coolness of words. Then Manabe went over to Tohru who was giggling with Kimi "And then _we_ get to spend some time together" he said, holding Tohru in a romantic pose and looking in her eyes. Tohru had started blushing and stammering, when Manabe started laughing and let go of her.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Kyo said outraged, and put a fist up.

"Chill out Kyo" Manabe said like nothing had happened, "I'm only kidding".

"Let's just hurry up and get home" Yuki said calmly "Manabe," he added "Quit fooling around".

The party of six didn't fit on the narrow sidewalk, so they walked in pairs. Somehow, Kyo ended up next to Kimi, Manabe with his sister, and Yuki with Tohru. It was strange, because before, Tohru was next to Kyo in the rear of the group and Yuki was in the front. _How had Yuki gotten all the way to the back?_, Kyo pondered, but then didn't give it a second glance. He was too occupied with keeping Kimi from not putting her head on his shoulders and wrapping her arm around his waist.

Tohru and Yuki walked side by side slightly uncomfortably. Not because the sidewalk was too narrow, but because they weren't usually with just each other…like this. So Tohru made small talk like: "How is student council going?" "How are all your classes?" "Wasn't it funny when Manabe looked like a frog after the contest?" When she paused, she noticed that Yuki looked preoccupied by something troubling.

She continued the small talk for a short while longer when Yuki suddenly interrupted in a grave and serious manner: "Tohru, may I ask you something?"

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Ha! I switched it up again!...sort of. So it now it could also be TohruXManabe…hmm…you must read to find out! Mwahhh haaa haaa! And what do you think Yuki wants to ask her? And how will Kyo react? (Not saying what though ;P) Also, I'm thinking about stopping this one for a while and doing another fanfic, should I? Cause I've been having writers block lately but trying to update for you guys anyway…Should I just stop this one completely? Or maybe just end this in another chapter or two? If I don't get reviews telling me, I'm just going to stop this one and start another. Toodles!


	8. Misunderstandings

"Um…sure" Tohru said nervously because of the new serious air between them.

Yuki looked thoughtfully in front of him for a while before speaking, "Miss Honda…" he paused again, "Are you…comfortable with the student council coming over? I know they can be loud…well…Manabe and Kimi anyway…" Yuki gave a tiny, barely-there lopsided grin and waited for Tohru to reply.

"Well…" she hesitated, not wanting to offend anyone, or sound rude. "I do enjoy being with them, and I had a lot of fun with them today…they can get a bit rowdy sometimes, but I really enjoy their company" Tohru said sweetly.

Yuki gave a sigh, "I was hoping that you wouldn't say that".

"W-what?" Tohru stuttered, scared that she offended Yuki. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

Yuki held his hand up, signaling her to stop, and gave an exhausted laugh, "No, I'm not offended" he said, beating Tohru to it, "It's just…oh…I don't know" he said with a sigh. He glanced at Tohru who had a concerned expression on her face, "Never mind" and he gave her a small smile "Just forget I said anything"

"Eh…okay" Tohru said unsurely.

Yuki looked up to the sky and gave a much happier smile, then he looked at Tohru again who was still looking at him concernedly. "Really, it's okay" then Yuki held Tohru's face in his hand and stroked her cheek tenderly with his thumb, "I don't know what I'm talking about", he let his hand drop, "So don't worry about me" and he gave her another small smile.

If Yuki hadn't stared off into space after this, he would have noticed that Tohru had turned a deep shade of red all over her face. He was always this sweet and gentle with her, but her never touched her so…affectionately. Tohru's mind was in a tumble much like a washing machine. Tohru looked behind her to see if anyone had noticed this, Kyo was too distracted by Kimi (_Phew_, she thought, then she wondered why she was relieved), Manabe was chatting excessively to his sister. But when Tohru looked at Machi to see if she was listening to her brother, Tohru was mortified that Machi was staring straight at her intently without blinking, and looked like she had been doing so for a while. Tohru was too polite and embarrassed to say or ask Machi anything, so she just turned around, red as ever.

Tohru walked silently beside Yuki, still blushing. When Yuki looked at her and saw her _still _blushing, he immediately regretted what he did.

"Um…Honda-San…I'm sorry if I've embarrassed you or made you uncomfortable" Yuki said so sincerely that it made Tohru blush even harder.

"Oh…it's, um…not that Yuki-Kun…it's…um…" Tohru looked behind her and saw Machi still staring intently at her, "Um…it's nothing. I was just…surprised!" and she gave what she hoped was a convincing smile.

Yuki looked at Tohru, unsure of what to say or do, she was smiling and had no reason to lie to him…but her smile was too bright and she was blushing too hard.

Tohru was getting nervous that Yuki suspected that she wasn't telling the truth. _Hmmm…_, she thought, _what can I do to convince him?..._, that's when she realized that her cheeks were aching! _Oh! I'm smiling too much!_, so she quickly dropped her smile which only confused Yuki more.

_Oh no!_, _now she's mad at me!_ the confused Yuki thought, for Tohru had been smiling so brightly…and then vanished and was replaced by a straight, impassive expression. "Miss Honda…I'm sorry" Yuki said, not noticing the confusion that came onto Tohru's face, "I…didn't' mean to upset you" he said miserably.

"…'upset me'?" she asked. What was he talking about? _He_ hadn't done anything, if anyone had made someone upset, it was her.

"Well…yes…I saw your face and…" Yuki trailed off.

But Tohru just smiled and was inwardly relieved that it was only a misunderstanding between them. "Yuki-Kun, you hadn't upset me!" she said cheerfully, "I only stopped smiling because me cheeks were starting to hurt!" and she gave an innocent laugh that hid the relief she felt when he smiled at her, also relieved. (That might have been a little confusing, it means that she laughed and was relieved that he laughed, and _he_ was also relieved too…okay…now that _that's_ cleared up, I'll get back to the story )

"Oh!...okay...cause I thought-" Yuki started.

"It's fine Yuki-Kun! Really!" Tohru grabbed his hand and gave him a play (pretend) disapproving look, "You and your family worry so much about me! I'm _fine_!" then she gave a small happy smile to prove her point, "You worry about me almost as much as I worry about you!" Tohru was grinning now at Yuki, waiting for a response, a smile, an expression on his face, but got none. She then realized that she was still holding his hand, she blushed and then quickly let go.

Yuki was having an (another?) internal conflict. There was the feeling he got when Tohru held his hand, he didn't' know what it was, but it made him feel strange (not like that you pervs!), and then there was the addition of those words she said: _'You worry about me almost as much as I worry about you!'_. Yuki wasn't sure if Tohru meant the Sohma family or just him. _Just him_, he thought in his mind. He liked those words being mentioned by Tohru, those words being spoken to him. But then he snapped back into reality, _But_ _she hasn't said those word_s, he thought with a sigh.

Yuki was brought into _reality_ reality when he heard Kyo's yells of distress (which brought an imaginary smile to Yuki's lips), the giggles of Kimi, the annoying taunts from Manabe, the worried gasp from Tohru and…nothing from Machi. Yuki turned around to see if Machi was still with them, and there she was…deathly quiet and boring holes into him with her intent brown eyes.

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Lol, Machi is _such_ a stalker! This chappie was mainly…_all _about Yuki and Tohru, so hope you weren't disappointed! I tried to make him himself without being all depressed an all. Oh, and for the few reviewers who asked me about the charming gangster, I haven't forgotten him, it was going to be about him in this chapter, but I didn't' want to make them (the group: Tohru, Manabe, Kimi…&ct) go home just yet in Ch7, so he's going to be in either Ch9 or Ch10. But I'm a little short in ideas on how to bring him in, or what he's going to be like or do, so please send reviews and HELP! You guy's always have great ideas! Toodles!


	9. Guest for Dinner

The party of six had been walking for about 15 minutes when Shigures' house loomed into sight.

"We're here!" Tohru said happily to the council members who had never been to Shigures' house before, "Welcome!"

_Finally_ both Kyo and Yuki thought, but didn't want to show any discomfort to the other, Kyo just shrugged and continued to walk (a bit faster though), and Yuki put on his host face and also gave a 'Welcome'.

"Nice" Manabe said and gave an admiring whistle.

Tohru gave a happy grin that all the effort she put into the house paid off, but then she heard the clock strike 5:30 (PM). "Ah! I forgot! I have to hurry and start dinner!" and Tohru scurried into the kitchen.

"Kimi likes it here! Kimi wants to-"

"Come on, lets hurry up and do what we came to do" Yuki interrupted, scared of what Kimi might request. Well…he was more scared that he would have to refuse and it would be a handful trying to calm them down. "We can go in the living room" he said, leading them to the table.

When they were all comfy and settled (except for Kyo who went outside to train) Tohru came in and served tea, and then bustled back to the kitchen.

"So she's your housekeeper or something?" Manabe asked Yuki with a hint of mockery in his voice.

Yuki gave a sigh, "Yes, but I thought you wanted to come here to plan". He figured that there were no avoiding questions about the fact that Tohru lived with him and Kyo and they were of no relation.

"Okay, let's get down to business" Manabe said. Yuki sighed inwardly this time, even though he was the President, Manabe always dominated and took control of things, Yuki just accepted it, people like Manabe were like forces of nature that you couldn't' change and just had to deal with.

"Yuki, could you go and get some paper and a pencil for our secretary" Manabe requested, which shocked Yuki, Manabe usually just ordered or didn't' even ask at all.

"Sure" Yuki replied and went upstairs to his room to get an extra notebook he had. But when he looked in his book bag it wasn't there, and he didn't have anything else he could spare. But then he remembered the notebook that Tohru always used when he tutored her, she had plenty of paper left and she figured she wouldn't' mind. So he grabbed the book and went downstairs to the kitchen.

"Honda-San?" he called out, he couldn't see Tohru.

"Yes?" she replied, suddenly popping out from behind an open cabinet door, her arms occupied by several pots and pans.

"Here, let me help" Yuki then put the notebook down and took a few pots out of Tohru's arms. "Where do you want me to put these?" he asked, and Tohru directed him towards the sink counter.

After they deposited the burden in their arms, Tohru gave a grateful smile, "Thank you Yuki-Kun, I probably would have dropped all of them without your help! I'm always so clumsy" she said with a good-natured landmark.

Yuki looked at Tohru and smiled back, she always made him feel useful and that he had a purpose, even if it was only to help dry the dishes and to help carry pots and pans.

Tohru then caught glance of the green notebook she always used when Yuki was tutoring her. "Oh! Do you need my notebook Yuki-Kun?" she asked.

"Yeah" he said, "The secretary needs it and I don't have any paper to spare" Yuki said sorry that he had to impose on Tohru's kindness.

"Um…" Tohru hesitated, but then gave a weak smile "Sure! I hope that it's not too messy for Kuragi-San" then Tohru hurriedly started scrubbing the counter top.

"…Thanks" Yuki said a little confused at Tohru's hesitation, but shrugged it off. He grabbed the green notebook and headed off to the living room where the rest of the student council was.

"Finally!" Manabe said rudely (but of course he didn't realize it), "We have tons of ideas and we really need to write them down!"

Yuki gave a groan, now he'd have to listen to Manabe call out all of the places that he'd want to go, "Fine, what have you got?"

The usual water parks and camping trips were rejected, the weather had been constant rain and was forecasted to be like that for another good two to five weeks, so that ruled out anything outdoors. But it was decided that they definitely needed a fieldtrip, it was midterm exams and the students were getting restless.

"Kimi wants to go shopping! Can we go to the mall?" Kimi suggested.

"Hm…I don't think-"

"That sounds like a great idea!" Manabe interrupted, "Machi, you getting this down?" when she nodded he continued. "We can just wander around by ourselves the whole day"

Machi, ever practical (except when she's shy), objected, "We couldn't, there's too many of us, and we'd crowd the place. Plus, I don't think administration would approve a fieldtrip that isn't a bit educational"

Yuki gave a discreet, surprised glance at Machi. She barely ever spoke, even when asked her opinion, much less spoke of her own accord.

"Hm…" Manabe pondered, after a few minutes of thoughtfulness he spoke, "I've got it!" he exclaimed, "Let's go see a movie! That new one coming out! We can say that the students will learn about spending money and all that jazz" he said waving his hand as to show that this was unimportant. 'Learning about money management' was the oldest excuse to go on a fieldtrip…but it usually worked, probably because the teachers didn't' care as long as the students were gone.

"Well…I guess" Yuki said, when he heard the enthusiasm of Kimi and Manabe (of course Machi just shrugged). "We'll have to go over the details tomorrow at school-"

That's when Tohru came in to get out of the hot kitchen, "Oh! So you decided a place!"

"Yeah! We decided to go to the movies!" Kimi said happily.

"Wow! That was so fast! You guys must work really well together!" Tohru said naively.

"Er…" Yuki started, because they _didn't_ work really well together. They were all completely different people who were stuck to try and work together.

"Yeah! We're a really great team! Eh Yun-Yun?" and Manabe nudged Yuki with his elbow playfully.

Yuki ground his teeth together silently, hoping that doing that would give him the control to _not_ knock his vice president into next week. Before Yuki could say anything, he was interrupted by Kyo who had just come inside from training.

"WHAT AREYOU PEOPLE STILL DOING HERE!" Kyo was a little cranky because he was hot and sweaty (yum!) from training.

Tohru gave a sympathetic glance towards Kyo, "Here Kyo-Kun, I'll get you a glass of water"

"Don't bother!" and Kyo stormed upstairs to his room.

"That stupid cat" Yuki said and then looked at Tohru who was still standing there, "Tohru, please give him the water, you know how he is"

Tohru nodded her head and giggled a little, it was always funny how Kyo always got upset over nothing when he was sweaty, like a little child. So Tohru went into the kitchen and then went upstairs to Kyo's room to give a big glass of ice cold water.

"It must be nice having someone to take care of you all the time, especially someone as pretty as _Tohru_" Manabe said trying to provoke Yuki out of his calm. He had only seen the president lose his temper once, and he was trying to see Yuki without his mask.

"Yes, it is nice, and the fact that she's pretty is…" Yuki didn't trust himself to say anymore. "Anyway, it's getting late" it was now 6:04 pm, "You guys should get home now while there's still a bit of light out"

"Aww…but it's so dark! Kimi doesn't like the dark!"

"Yeah, besides, we're hungry, can't we stay for dinner?" Manabe said, not really asking. He had smelled the aroma of the food that Tohru was making and wanted to stay.

"We shouldn't" Machi answered for Yuki, "We don't want to be a burden" and to Yuki, "We'll go now" and she bowed, walking to the door and waiting for Manabe and Kimi to come.

"Fine, fine" Manabe surrendered, "Well see ya tomorrow Prez!" and he, Kimi and Machi walked out of the door.

Yuki was relieved that they were gone, but he was regretting that he didn't get a chance to speak to Machi alone, she saved him a bunch of times and he wanted to thank her.

"Finally their gone" Kyo said gruffly, _apparently the water didn't help,_ Yuki thought, "What were they doing here for so long anyway?" just saying that to complain.

"Where's Tohru?" Yuki asked, he didn't care about the stupid cats' moods, Tohru went up there a while ago and she wasn't down yet.

Yuki jogged up the stairs "Tohru?" he poked his head into her room but she wasn't there, he went into his room and she wasn't there either, when he went into Kyo's room, Yuki found Tohru on her knees and surrounded by glass. "Tohru! What happened!" and he rushed to her side.

"Oh!" startled to see him.

"Are you okay?" Yuki asked worriedly.

She gave a small smile, "Oh yes, I'm fine. When I came in to give Kyo-Kun his water, he…thought I was someone else and he yelled at me and I was so shocked that I dropped the glass" seeing Yuki's still worried face she added: "But no one was hurt! It's okay!...Besides!" she added brightly, "I'm almost done!" and with a few more sweeps with the small brush, she had all the glass in the garbage. "There!" she said standing up and wiping the dirt of her knees, "I'm finished!". But after she did a little happy dance which made Yuki smile, she gasped "AH! I forgot about dinner! I better hurry or it's going to be late! Ahhh!" and she ran down the stairs, into the kitchen and turned off the food just as the clock read 6:10 pm.

Just as Tohru began to get the plates to set up for dinner, Shigure popped in. "Hello my little flower, I just remembered, I'm having a guest for dinner tonight. Would you be so kind as to add an extra plate for dinner?"

"Sure" she said.

"My sweet housekeeper, you are too good to me" Shigure said dramatically and then vanished from the kitchen.

After the places for dinner were set, there was a knock at the door. _Oh!_ Tohru thought, _that must be Gure-Sans' guest!_ So Tohru went to the door to answer it. When she opened it, she noticed something vaguely familiar about the guest. He was tall, almost the same height as Shigure, and he had the same endless black eyes that looked just as mischievous. But he was dressed in a freshly pressed, button down long sleeve shirt that was tucked into his equally nice pants. When he looked down and smiled at her, there was a rouge-ish charm that she could recall, that's when her eyes went wide and he grinned,

"Remember me now?"

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This is my longest chappie ever! Six pages baby! Anyway, it was so long because I had to make the gangster from before, appear again by special request(s) from Yellowierd0. Enjoy and submit reviews! **_sniff_** , I always feel so neglected when _**sob** _you guys don't leave reviews, you guys used to review all the time but…**_sob _**it seems you have forgotten me…_**sniff** . _Also, check out a new story I'm writing, I'm not sure it even comes close to this one but whatev,I just needed to get out of my head, it's called: "The New Kid at School". Lame, I know. The story's about a new kid from London who goes to their school now and he's 'interested' in Tohru. So there's jealousy (Kyo and a little bit of Yuki), Black Haru, Fights (Kyo, Yuki, Haru balck and white, adn Uo-Chan, heck, maybe even Shigure!), romance(-ish), and (oh ye-ha!) the super hot new kid!


	10. Pink Hair

Confused and slightly dazed, Tohru was about to reply when Shigure came and interrupted, "Ah! I see you have met my little house wife!" Shigure said like a proud husband.

"Indeed" the stranger said before, "Actually, your…'house wife' and I have had an encounter before"

"Really?" Shigure said in a pretend wounded voice, "Has my little flower been seeing someone else?"

Tohru was terribly embarrassed and didn't know what to say. "Eh…" she said intelligently. But Tohru was saved from any further embarrassment when the stranger spoke.

"Why, my old friend!" he said dramatically with his arms open. "It's been too long! My, you have changed!"

"And you haven't aged a day!" Shigure teased back. "Well come in, we wouldn't want to be late" he said mysteriously.

"No, we wouldn't want that to happen" the stranger said knowingly and just as mysteriously to Shigure.

Tohru still confused, Tohru remembered her manners in time and bowed to Shigures' guest. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go and serve dinner" and she made her escape.

When Tohru was in the shelter of the kitchen, she leaned against the wall with her eyes closed and let out relieved sigh. But the relief was temporary, when she heard a tap on the kitchen wall, she gave a shriek when she opened her eyes and saw that stranger leaning against the wall opposite her staring at her.

"Forgive me for intruding, but do you need any help, Shigure said you might" he said politely.

"Oh no! I'm fine! Plus, you're our guest, I can't ask you for help!" Tohru said frantically trying to dissuade him and to _get him out of there_!

"Really, I insist" he said coolly.

Tohru was about to tell him that he shouldn't be helping her since he was her guest when Shigure called to him. He really made her uneasy, not like he had bad vibes or anything, but he just made her feel embarrassed.

"Oh! Look at this! Remember this? Come take a look!" Shigure called from his room.

The stranger gave a slightly frustrated sigh, "All right, I'm coming!" he said playfully. But before he left, he stared observantly at Tohru's face not missing anything. When he finally left, Tohru put her hand to her chest and felt her heart beating super-fast, and exhaled raggedly. There was another rap on the wall.

"I'm fine! You don't need to help me!" she protested towards the knock, turning away so her blush wouldn't be seen.

"What?" Yuki who was confused, was she upset that he only helped her with dishes? He would do more, but he proved to be more in the way than help. Maybe when she said that he was a great help, even though he only did the dishes, she was just trying to keep from hurting his feelings.

"Oh!" Tohru said in surprise, she had expected the insistent stranger again. "I…I thought you were someone else" she tried to explain to Yuki.

Yuki looked thoughtful for a moment, nobody else helped her in the kitchen (except when Kyo cooked occasionally) so who else could she be talking about? "Someone else?" then Yuki remembered hearing Tohru answer the door and Shigure greeting someone. "Was it the person I you greeting at the door?"

"Yes" Tohru didn't want to say anymore, fearing that she'd give herself away. But Yuki had caught on when he saw the blush when she answered him.

"Was the person bothering you?" Yuki asked.

"Oh no! He was just-"

"'He'?" Yuki inquired, guessing that he wasn't going to like what he was about to hear.

"He's Shigures friend and he's staying for dinner. I heard them talking about how they haven't seen each other in a long time and things like that. They said that they were going somewhere tonight…" Tohru trailed off , wondering where it could be.

"Hmm…" Yuji was thoughtful too, there were only two possible people that Shigures old friend could be, was it possible that it was-

"Hey! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY HAIR YOU RAT!" Kyo yelled from the stairway. He had been taking a nap upstairs in his room.

"Hmm, looks like the cat's up" Yuki said slightly amused.

"HEY YOU DAMN RAT! I'M GONNA-" he stopped his threat when he heard a giggle.

"Oh Kyo-Kun!" she looked at Kyo again which caused another batch of giggles, "Your hair is…pink!"

Kyo started clenching his fists, "Yeah! And it's all this damn rats'fault!"

"Oh! But it looks adorable! Really!" Tohru pleaded, hopefully he wouldn't try to fight with Yuki.

Kyo's fists' unclenched for a second, he was inwardly preening, _She called me adorable!_ But then he remembered, _My hair is freakin' pink!_ "That's it! You're going down!"

"Fine" Yuki said in a bored voice, but with an amused smile "But lets take it outside, we have a guest"

"Wha-?" Kyo's arms lowering from fighting stance.

That when Yuki decked him in the stomach, "Come on, dinner's almost ready, lets get this over with"

"Why you-!" Kyo then attempted to kick Yuki in the face, Yuki blocked it in his arm and then grabbed Kyo's foot and twisted it.

Kyo had fallen on the floor, outraged, he swung his leg underneath Yuki's. Yuki was silently gloating so he didn't see this coming, so when Yuki fell, Kyo got Yuki in a headlock on the floor.

Both of them were grunting curses at each other when Shigure walked in, with his guest diligently following behind him.

"Oh dear, these two are at it again" Shigure said to the guest shaking his head, "And I _did_ hope that they would at least behave for our guest" he said with mock disappointment, "Well" he continued perkily, "No use having dinner be cold because of this, come" he said referring to his friend, "I'll show you to the table. Kyo, Yuki" Shigure said looking back over his shoulder to the two: still cursing and threatening each other on the floor, "Please _try_ to behave for our guest, he's very important…to me at least." Shigure said mysteriously. "Oh! And I must say that new hair color is stunning on you! You must get me the name of your hairstylist!" Shigure teased. (Okay, I know that was corny, but I wanted Shigure to tease Kyo about his hair just a _teeny_ bit)

Kyo had managed to look up from the fetal position (Yuki kicked him…there) and saw Shigures' guest grinning at them.

"What the hell…are you…grinning at!" he had to speak in chunks because of the pain, and he knew very well that Shigures guest was looking at his pink hair.

But the stranger just chose to grin and continue to stare at them in that same way he had stared at Tohru, except this time there was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

"Sugar? Whatever are you doing?" Shigure called from the other room.

Kyo and Yuki exchanged looks with each other.

"Coming" the stranger replied. With a last look at the two (who were now getting up from the floor) he left and went to Shigure.

"Whoa…" Kyo said still freaked out by what Shigure said, "…what just happened?"

"Just don't think about it" Yuki said calmly, brushing off dirt from his pants, "If that guy is a friend of Shigure, then they're both probably weird"

"Whatever. But that guy's a freak if he's hangin' out with that pervert"

"Kyo-Kun!" Tohru said supriesed at him.

"What!" Kyo said defensively.

"You really shouldn't say that…" Tohru started to trail off, "But lots of unusual people become friends, take me for example"

Kyo and Yuki then remembered that Tohru was friends with a goth and Yankee. They were all as different as night and day.

"So you shouldn't judge people by who their friends are…" Tohru looked a little sad for a moment, but then an alarm in the kitchen went off. "Oh no! The miso soup!" and Tohru rushed into the kitchen.

"You don't think…" Kyo was contemplating, "That anyone's bothering Tohru because of that Uo-Chan and Hana-Chan do you?"

Yuki was thoughtful for a moment, "…It's possible, especially because many people don't understand her. But I don't think so…because I don't think that anyone talks about me and you"

"We're not friends! You're my mortal enemy and I _will_ beat you!" Kyo said (Ah, just like old times).

"I didn't say we _were_ stupid cat, but _they_ think we are because we're related"

"Well I didn't _ask_ to be related to you" Kyo said angrily.

"Believe me, if we weren't related, you would've been beaten into pulp a long time ago" Yuki said coolly, with just as much resentment.

"Yeah? Well I-"

"Dinner's ready!" Tohru called out, poking her head out from the kitchen. "Whew!" she said wiping her forehead with the back of her head.

"Jeez Tohru! How much did you need to cook?" Kyo asked.

"Oh, well we have a guest, and I want to make sure that I have enough!" she said happily. "I'll be there to serve tea in a minute!" and her head disappeared back inside the kitchen.

"Hmm, well isn't this cozy?" Shigure said cheerfully. They were all settled down at the table and Tohru had just served tea.

"Yes, quite" the guest said with just a hint of sarcasm. They (excluding Shigure who's pretty much oblivious to anything obvious) all could understand why though, he was sitting close to Shigure and was a little cramped up.

When Tohru served dinner, she was given many compliments, mainly from Shigure and his guest.

"How _do_ you do it? You are simply too good to me, my little flower" Shigure said with a playful wink.

"Yeah, I still don't know why she puts up with you" Kyo said to Shigure.

"Yes, it is a mystery" Shigure said good naturedly, "But it's because she is just so sweet" Shigure then made a move to kiss Tohru on the cheek (Tohru was sitting next to Shigure and Kyo was on her other side).

"Shigure, we should be going now, we're going to be late" the stranger interrupted.

"Ah! And we don't want that to happen…do we?" Shigure said mysteriously (again!).

"You're obviously enjoying this. Why all this secrecy Shigure, what are you up to?" Yuki asked accusingly.

"Up to something? Do I look like I'm up to something?" and Shigure gave doe eyes which looked disturbingly convincing, but it was that smirk that tipped them off.

"Yes" Yuki said bluntly, "Now tell us what it is" he demanded.

"I'm not up to anything!" Shigure said trying to convince them.

"We know you are Shigure, you always are" Kyo added.

"I'm hurt" Shigure said dramatically putting his hand to his heart, "You don't believe me. You all think I'm a cad, a liar, a-"

"Yes, and a pervert, now tell us what you're up to" Yuki said coldly.

"I'd love to tell you but I have to go and change now so that we're not late" Shigure said looking at an imganiary watch on his wrist.

"Change?" Kyo asked. But Shigure was already retreating to the room and had shut the door. So now it was just Shigure's guest and the three of them.

He sat sipping his tea elegantly and calmly, looking to the side and staring off into space not looking at anyone. Yuki and Kyo were staring intently at him as if trying to see through him. Tohru, not wanting to be rude, tried to look anywhere other than his direction. But after a few minutes, the stranger started giving little bursts of quiet laughter and Tohru couldn't help but look at him curiously.

Finally, the stranger had noticed that they were all staring at him (or maybe he just finished with his little daydream or whatever). He turned a little bit so he could directly face them (they were on the opposite side of the table with them.

They boys, Kyo and Yuki, had a little staring contest with Shigures' guest. After almost a minute of intense staring on both sides (excluding Tohru), the stranger gave a bark of laughter.

"You guys are too much" he said with a smile, wiping tears from his eyes that came from laughing so much, and then regained his calm disposition.

"What so funny?" Kyo demanded.

"Well, for starters" he looked Kyo up and down, "Your hair. I find it simply…intriguing. Quite unusual for a boy your age but" he gave a shrug, "It must be the changing times"

"I'll show you something unusual!" Kyo yelled, embarrassed and annoyed that a _stranger_ had made fun of him. Kyo then got up quickly, and was about to assume fighting position, but the stranger stayed where he was sipping tea comfortably and looking amusedly at Kyo (and his pink hair), he then focused on Yuki who was still staring at him coldly.

"More importantly" Yuki said, his voice like ice, "Who are you?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sorry! I'm sorry for cutting it off there! But I couldn't help it! It's the

prankster who loves to read angry (not _too_ angry though) reviews in me! Honest! So did you likey? It was 8 pages! A new record for me! Please review! I don't' get that many reviews nagging me anymore so I tend to slack off. Plus, I'm going to the library more now (YAY!) so I tend to be unfocused (now I'm reading MARS, it rules!) and it takes me a while to get back into Frubas mode. Who do you think he is? Can you guess? Well, that doesn't really matter, it how he's going to affect the _future_! Mwhaaahaahaa! Okay, no more talking, I have to go put away my cereal bowl! Toodles!


	11. Arms Around Me

"Well it seems that I have no choice but to tell you" the stranger said, still relaxed as ever, in mocking tone, "And, I suppose I'm going to have to tell you why I'm here, aren't I?" he looked at Yuki and Kyo, regarding them with a look of curious disappointment (sounds weird, but that's just how he looks, so deal with it). He then gave a sigh and looked down, "I'm sorry to tell you that I can't" serious, and for once, he wasn't laughing at them. This time he looked genuinely regretful, "Tell you who I am and why I'm here I mean. I have a purpose that can't be revealed to you, at least not yet" he paused, "But you will find out eventually" as a means of an explanation.

There was silence. Tohru felt the most awkward and made a feeble excuse to go to the kitchen. Kyo and Yuki remained, watching the stranger with steely eyes.

"You expect us to believe that crap!" Kyo said incredulously.

The stranger gave a defeated sigh, "I know, it all sounds crazy, but I can't tell you anymore than I already have".

Yuki's distrust of the stranger rose, as did his suspicions, especially because if this strangers' involvement with Shigure, who was always up to no good.

"What are you doing here?" Yuki asked bluntly, looking directly in the strangers' eyes.

The stranger shrugged, "I guess I can answer that" he said reasonably. "Tonight, Shigure and I are going somewhere so he told me that we'd go together from his house"

"And where exactly are you going?" said Kyo, wary of the stranger.

"I told you, I can't tell you that" Shigure' guest protested.

Yuki frowned, he wouldn't be able to get much information out of the stranger, and if he was friends with Shigure, he was definitely up to something. Kyo was also ill at ease with the stranger.

"Yeah, and at 7:12?" Kyo inquired, eyeing the strangers dress. The stranger was dressed in pressed black slacks, and a freshly ironed white, long sleeve button-up shirt and a boring, but professional looking tie. "Cause I don't think you're going to do some karaoke like that"

"Tohru!" Shigures' voice rang out from his room, "Tohru! Someone please fetch Tohru me, I need help getting this on"

Yuki looked distrustfully at the stranger who was still sitting there calmly and drinking his tea again. He hesitated, and then went into the kitchen to fetch Tohru.

So now it was Kyo alone with the stranger. Both sat staring at each other when the stranger broke the silence.

"You don't remember me either?" the stranger asked Kyo.

"Remember you?" Kyo looked confused.

"You really should be more careful, a girl like Tohru is prone to such accidents" the stranger said casually, not paying Kyo any attention.

Kyo wrinkled his brow (how cute!), and then recognition showed in his face. "What? So you were that guy-"

"Smart kitty, I knew you would remember eventually" the stranger accented _eventually _which made Kyo angry.

Kyo sat up (almost bumping the table) and pointed a finger at the bored (he was picking at his nails) stranger, he was about to say something when the stranger interrupted.

"You know that stuff can be permanent" he (the stranger) said.

Kyo stopped mid-word, "What? What's permanent?"

"That" the stranger looking up at Kyo.

"CRAP! Are you serious! I don't wanna be stuck with _pink_ hair!" Kyo was seriously freaking out.

"Well as long as it isn't in your hair for too long, it should come out" the stranger said calmly.

Kyo then ran out of the room clutching his pink head and ran into the bathroom, and started running the water.

"What's that stupid cat doing?" Yuki asked mostly to himself, looking in the direction of the splashing.

"Trying to rinse out the pink that _someone_ put in his hair" the stranger leered at Yuki.

Yuki looked away, as if he were ashamed of what he did. But he was just too embarrassed to be caught by a guest at one of his worse moments.

"I wonder what he did to deserve it" the stranger said casually while watching Yuki to see his, if any, reaction.

"He did" Yuki said plainly, "Besides, it's not permanent" (awwww).

(This is what it sounded like, when Kyo was trying to get the pink out of his hair)

(Splash #1)

"DAMMIT! Why won't this come out!"

(Splash #2)

"I'm gonna kill that rat…"

(Splash #3)

"It's not coming out!"

(Splash #4)

"Is it out?...AHHH! It's still pink!"

(Splash #5)

"Cwap! I got wajer up my nwose!"

It went like this for a while. And Shigures' guest just sat there sipping his tea quietly, and giving the occasional small smile at Kyo's yells. Yuki was grinning rulthlessly at Kyo's despair (especially the water up his nose). This was his way of getting back at that stupid cat for causing Tohru so much trouble.

"Ah ha!" Shigure called out in a sing song voice, "I" he gave a dramatic flourish, "I'm ready!".

Yuki and the guest both turned to see Shigure standing with arms open wide in the middle of the floor. "What do you think? I'm I not simply ravishing?" (Ayame moment )

Yuki had to admit, Shigure looked very good in his Armani suit (where had he been hiding that!) and black dress shoes (he didn't know the brand). Shigures' hair was neatly combed, with an off-center part on the right, so that part of his hair strategically covered one eye and made him look mysterious…and _definitely_ up to something.

"Where are you going?" Yuki asked accusingly.

Before Shigure answered, Kyo stumbled out of the bathroom, half-drowned.

"Kyonkichi! Do I not look _divine_" Shigure said, turning in a slow circle so that Kyo got the 'full effect'. "And it's all thanks to my little flower! Oh Tohhh-ru!"

Tohru peeped in shyly, nervous about everyone's reaction to her handiwork.

"You look…" Kyo took in Shigure, he did look pretty good, Tohru did a great job, but he would never admit that to him! "Weird!"

Shigure grinned, "I'll take that as a 'yes" then he glanced at Kyo's head with a wrinkle in his brow, "You haven't tried to get that out yet?"

"What!" Kyo started feeling his hair (how will that help?) "It's not out yet!" he then ran back to the bathroom.

When the water started running, Yuki asked, "What do you mean? All the pink was out wasn't it?"

"Yes, I just wanted to tease him a bit" Shigure said, "And because he probably would have gotten upset and damaged my poor house again" Shigure said shaking his head.

"Why Sensei, it looks to me as though you've put on some weight" the stranger said standing up and looking at Shigures tummy with a raised eyebrow.

"Ha! _This_ is a perfect body!" and Shigure made a sweeping gesture upon himself. "It looks like _you_ who has put on the weight!"

"Oh really?" Shigures' friend play-sneered back, "Well why don't you prove it?"

"Fine, we'll settle this _now_. Oh Toh-ru!" Shigure called. Tohru came rushing to his side. "Torhu darling" Shigure picked up her hands and looked into her eyes, "This scoundrel thinks I've gained weight! Would you be so kind as to get the tape measure? That's a good girl" he said as Tohru ran to his room to go get the tape measure.

When Tohru came back with the tape measure, Shigure gave more instructions, "Now" Shigure positioned Tohru in front of him, "Measure my waist and _then_ we'll see who gained weight!"

"Eh…" Tohru shifted uncomfortably.

"No!" Yuki said angrily for Tohru's sake, "_I'll _do it!" and Yuki started to get up.

"Awww, how sweet Yuki-Kun, but why the worry? What could possibly happen to our little Tohru?" and Shigure then bent down and stroked underneath Tohru's chin.

"Get away from here you-" Yuki glanced at the stranger who was smiling, waiting for Yuki to call Shigure something, "Just let me do it" Yuki said exasperatedly.

"No!" Shigure said stubbornly, "I insist on having my little flower doing it, she's the only one I know who would keep my waist size confidential"

"Really, it's okay Yuki-Kun! Besides, I'm used to it, I used to measure people's waist all the time when I used to make clothes!" Tohru insisted half-heartedly, "But thanks for worrying about me" Tohru said quietly to Yuki. Shigure of course noticed this, as did his guest, they both looked at each other and grinned.

"If you're sure…" Yuki said giving in, when the phone rang.

Shigure ran to answer it, forgetting about the competition (thingy) for the moment.

"Why hello!...hmm…great!...yes, I need to--Oh good!...okay…alright…

Good bye!" Shigure said cheerfully hanging up the phone.

"Who was that?" Yuki asked with narrowed eyes, when Shigure was happy, that meant he was up to no good. Shigure was always happy…and he was always up to no good.

"Oh," he playfully waved this away, "Just an old friend"

Yuki stared at Shigure with distrust, the gleam in Shigures' eye gave him and uneasy feeling.

"Now" Shigure continued with new aplomb, "Let us see here whose waist line has grown!"

Tohru got in front of Shigure, and carefully leaned forward so that she wouldn't cause Shigure to transform in front of his friend. With the tape measure in hand, she reached around Shigure's waist standing on tiptoe, about to bring her other arm around, when there was a knock on the door.

Due to Shigure and Tohru's position, the stranger walked to the door grining again (Yuki was...supervising Shigure to make sure he didn't try any 'funny business' with Tohru).

As the guest was about to open the door, Kyo-Kun came out of the bathroom and stormed in (we can't forgot about our Kyo can we?). He was frowning, probably because he was soaking wet (cats+waterfigure it out stupid).

"Fall in the water?" _stupid cat_, Yuki said to himself.

"SHUD UP!" Kyo yelled, with a slight nasal tone (guess there was some water that got up his nose again). He then looked away from Yuki and saw Tohru with her arms wrapped around Shigure, and Shigure with a grin that showed that he was evidently enjoying this. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" from the angle he was seeing them at, he didn't see the tape measure.

"What?" Tohru quickly looked over her shoulder in surprise, she lost her balance and was falling towards Shigure with her arms around him.

At that moment, the stranger had opened the door to reveal-

"Mayuko-Senpai!" Yuki stood up in alarm.

"Oh SHIT!" Kyo said breathlessly, Tohru was about to hug Shigure and then he would transform…_in front of their teacher!_

Normally, their teacher would've made a threat to Kyo if he kept on cursing, but now she was just staring at the air where a man once stood, yet in his place was a dog.

XXXXXXXXX

OMG! I haven't updated in a long time! So sorry! Been _beyond _stressed out for my piano guild…but I did great! I got the highest score out of everyone! Anyway, at first, I was wondering where my chapter was going, but then I had a great idea! But just warning you: it's not going to be too funny, it's going to be more drama in the next two or three chapters. _Sigh_ I wonder how (and when) this story's going to end. Lol, I'm the author and I don't know XD! And I haven't gotten to who the stranger is yet have I? Gosh, I keep trying to get to it but the timing is never right, there's always something that could happen before… or it had to go after this because… yeah, sorry 'bout that. Toodles!


	12. Car Pool Shock

**Just want to say 'my bad'. I called the teacher the wrong thing, so I'll fix it in this one, sorry again!**

"M-Makuyo-Sensei!" Tohru stared wide-eyed in horror at revealing the Sohma family secret to their teacher.

Mayuko didn't reply, she merely stared with her jaw dropped at the dog. "Okay…I must be really tired, but I swear that right before I saw that dog I saw Shigure" she said while putting her hand up to her forehead in disbelief.

Yuki and Kyo were slightly relieved, she doubted what she just saw so maybe they could convince her it never happened.

"And you were right my dear" Shigure said with a big doggy grin.

"Holy shit! That dog can talk!" and Mayuko quickly stood behind Shigure's guest after grabbing a vase and holding it as a weapon. "Stay away from me!" she said in fear.

Yuki gave a _super_ pissed-off sigh, they could've prevented this if only stupid Shigure hadn't said anything!

"Please calm down, I'll explain everything" Yuki said calmly to their freaked out teacher.

Makuyo glanced nervously at the grinning dog, then convinced that it wouldn't harm her, she slowly walked towards Yuki.

"Okay…what's going on?" she said, her voice wobbling.

"Oh Makuyo-Sensei, I'm so sorry! It's all my fault! If only I hadn't been so clumsy!..."

"It wasn't your fault Honda-San, don't worry about it. You can't control when these things happen" this time it was the stranger that spoke.

This time Torhu looked up in wide-eyed, "H-How did you know my name?" she didn't remember telling him before.

He didn't reply and Yuki started to explain to their teacher what was going on.

After Yuki's brief explaination, "So…t-that" she pointed to Shigure, still in dog-form, "-is really Gure-San…?" she turned to look at dog when suddenly, she was staring at a naked (and grinning) Shigure sitting in the middle of the floor.

"Uwaaa!" both Mayuko and Tohru squealed, covering their eyes and turning away with red cheeks.

"Yes, and we turn back to our human forms eventually" Shigure said smiling at the memory of them both looking away as fast as they could when they saw him naked.

Mayuko blinked, "'_We_?'", she looked at her three students, "So you guys can change into animals too?" she said a bit nervously, Yuki hadn't told her that it ran in all the family, all she knew was what it was and that it happened to Shigure.

Kyo bit his lip, "Well she doesn't" he said pointing at Tohru, "but we…" he stopped, he looked at Shigure to figure out what to do next but found no help in (now clothed) Shigures' devious grins.

"We can too" Yuki said reluctantly.

"And you knew about this?" Mayuko asked Tohru surprised.

"Er…yeah…" Tohru said, feeling bad for everything that her teacher was going through because of her.

"Oh…um…" Mayuko said awkwardly, "It's okay, you're still my students" she said trying to be cheerful and sound as if it didn't bother her.

"No it certainly isn't" the stranger said smoothly which shocked everyone (except Shigure), he was so quiet they had almost forgotten he was there.

"Well" she gulped, "What should we do?"

"We'll think of something my dear" Shigure said patting her caringly on the back. "But you've been put through a shock, and you need to rest, you should go home"

"But it's so late!" Tohru protested, the ever-housewife.

"True…and you walked here did you not?" he asked Mayuko.

"Yeah, my cars' being repaired" she said with a shrug.

"Hm…let me make a call and we'll see what we can do" Shigure said disappearing into his room with the phone.

These were the first bits of his conversation:

"We have a situation here" Shigure said calmly walking towards his room, "I need your help to handle this…" there was a silence, "What I need is-" that's when the door to his room slammed and there was silence.

"So…er…" Makuyo said uncomfortably, "What do you guys turn into? Oh, and call me Mayu-chan since we're not in school—but!" she warned, "As soon as we get back to school it's back to Makuyo-Sensei!"

This had slightly lightened the tension between the four (the stranger had gone outside for a stroll).

"Well…I turn into a-"

"Rat, a dirty stinking rat" Kyo interrupted.

"Shut up you stupid cat!"

"Stop calling me stupid!"

"Well you _are_. I'm just telling it how I see it"

"Well I'm about to fix that!"

"Ohh! Now I get it" Mayuko said, causing the boys to stop their argument.

"Huh? Get what?" Kyo asked.

"Why you are always calling him rat and why Yuki is always calling you a stupid cat" Mayuko explained.

"See! You got the teacher calling me stupid!" Kyo then lashed out with a punch to Yuki's face.

Yuki blocked the punch and then kicked Kyo in his gut…hard. Kyo went flying and hit the wall with a loud thud.

"She only says that because she knows you are" Yuki said to the unconscious Kyo, putting his stray hairs in place when they got mussed from fighting Kyo.

The previously smiling Tohru ran over to Kyo to make sure he was okay.

"You guys are always fighting like this" Mayuko said with slight question in her voice.

"Yeah, it's only because this worthless cat doesn't know when to quit" Yuki said disgustedly.

"So…how come?" Mayuko asked cautiously, this was family business and her nose had no place in it, but she was curious.

Yuki gave a sigh, "Well, you know the story of the banquet of the zodiac…" Yuki's eyes were far away as he repeated the history.

"Wow" Mayuko said quietly.

"Yeah…" Yuki gave a tiny smile, "And I remember when Honda-San first came to us, she told us that she loved the cat. And that she loved it so much that she wanted to stop being the dog and be the cat"

"Hmm…" Mayuko glanced over at Tohru who was bent over Kyo with a wet towel. Now she sort of understood the affection that Kyo held for Tohru.

"He's so…different when he's with her"

"Yeah…" Yuki looked off into space, "She changed him—all of us actually" and he smiled to himself.

"Well your ride should be here shortly Maku-Chan (?)!" Shigure called, walking towards them.

"Oh, thanks Shigure" Mayuko said with a grateful nod.

With a few more minutes of talking (Kyo was conscious now), there was a honking of a horn outside.

"I'm so sorry that this interrupted with our evening" Shigure said taking Mayuko's hand in his, "But we'll try again" he said with a wink.

"Oh, no problem" Mayuko said with a dismissive wave, "It was still interesting" she said with a grin.

"Oh, not that I don't trust you but..." Shigure leaned in closer, "Could you try to keep this a secret, something like this getting out could be… problematic"

"I'm so sorry Sensei!" Tohru said with a deep bow, "I feel so bad for getting you involved in all of this!"

"It's okay Tohru-Chan!" Mayuko insisted to the flustered girl, "Don't worry, everything will be fine!"

With a last whimper (from Tohru), "Well…I'm off!" Mayuko said with a tiny salute and headed through the door.

As Mayuko closed the sliding door, she walked towards the car with a little bounce in her step and glowing eyes, _What an interesting day--night this was! _she thought. She looked up towards the vast sky in wonder, _I wonder what else there is that I don't know about. Oh look! No moon, not one single star either…this has definitely been the strangest day of my life. _

"Hi! Thanks for coming to drive me home! My name is--" Mayuko had finally looked at the driver and gasped.

Shigure leaning against the door thought: _I really owe you one…Hatori._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yay! Another cliffie! Sorry I haven't updated in a while! I stopped so I could read the manga to double check on a few details…but that didn't work out, and then I thought that I hadn't any ideas what to do, but then I found out that I had written the part I had thought I was stuck on…so yeah. But I hope that it was worth the wait. A few of you had guessed what was going to happen, actually, more like guessed who was going to be the driver. Was it that predictable! I guess I'll just have to be more…mysterious in my next chapters…Toodles!


	13. Wild Imagination

"Shigure-San?"

Shigure aroused from his reverie against the door.

"Um…are you okay? You should come inside before you catch a cold"

Shigure grinned before replying, "Yes, I'm coming", and with a back glance towards the car, Shigure closed the door.

"Shigure…why are you grinning? You only grin like this when you're up to no good." Yuki asked suspiciously.

"But dear Yuki-Kun! I always smile this way!" Shigure mock pleaded.

"Yeah, we know." Kyo said. "Cause you're always up to something!"

Shigure sighed dramatically. "No one understands me here…" and he fluttered his hand towards his forehead.

"What else is there to understand? You're a pervert and a sneak." Yuki said coldly.

"My how you two misunderstand me!" but then Shigure gave another one of those mysterious grins, "But I'm sure _someone's_ going to get some…understanding". Shigure said significantly, and then skipped to his office and stayed there for the rest of the evening.

_Meanwhile out inside the car of Hatori…_

"…"

There was a heavy awkward silence between Mayuko and Hatori. Both sat tense, trying to cover up their embarrassment.

"Um…sorry for making you come all the way out here…If I had known it was _you_, I would've…" Mayuko stopped, embarrassed about the way that sounded. _I should stop now, before I make the grave that damn Shigure dug for me, any deeper. I can't believe this though! How did I end up in this situation! I'm a teacher! I have an ordinary life filled with ordinary people! Well…maybe not…_Mayuko looked up at Hatori who tried to avoid her gaze. With a sudden feeling of boldness, Mayuko broke the silence.

"Are you just going to sit there a blush the whole way home? I know this is pretty…awkward" she almost faltered for a moment, bet she took a breath and kept on, "But I have seen wayyyyy weirder things today", she gave a tired chuckle.

"...Really?" Hatori said (barely) with embarrassment stricken... embarrassment.

"Ohhh yes…today I found out that…" Mayuko glanced at Hatori with suspicion, "Well, that you're er…the Sohma family can…" out of the corner of her eye, Mayuko saw Hatori flinch involuntarily.

Trying to regain his composure, Hatori tried to look unaffected. "…Found out what?" he asked trying to sound nonchalant.

"Well…" Mayuko was a little uneasy mentioning something this big, "Um…well…there these animals…"

"Oh, has Shigure let those boys have pets now?" Hatori pretended to check his shirt for lint. _Shigure, Shigure…you'll be the death of me yet. What have you gotten me-us-into?..._

"Well no…the boys…Shigure too actually…they" Shigure braced himself, hoping that she wasn't going to say what he thought she was going to say.

"They're…they're gay!" Mayuko burst into laughter at the sight of unchecked surprise on Hatori's face.

"G-gay!" Hatori blinked with a mixture of relief and OMG-I-Just-Can't-Freakin-Believe-This kind of feeling.

After wiping away some more tears streaming down her face from laughter, she was finally able to breathe "No, that's not it" she stopped to try and catch her breath again, "But it was_ totally_ worth saying that, you should've seen your face!" and she burst into more peals of laughter. "But"

She turned serious, "Well…they can…turn into animals"

"I beg your pardon?" Hatori said, hoping that he misheard her.

"The animals of the zodiac actually" Mayuko added.

"And…" Hatori looked at her expectantly, "You…okay with this?..."

"…'Okay' with this? Of course I am. I think that this is really cool! If this is possible, than think of all the other things I don't know about!" Mayuko was glowing with childish excitement.

Hatori was in thought, "Are you sure that this wouldn't affect how you treat them in school?"

Mayuko opened her mouth to reply, but then shut it closed. Would it affect the way she treated them. It's not like she was scared of them or anything, but she couldn't just treat them like she always did, knowing their biggest secret.

"I guessed not" Hatori said calmly interrupting her thoughts. He gave a reluctant sigh, "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this…"

Mayuko was instantly wary, "You're not going to kill me are you! I promise I won't tell anybody! I swear! I'll treat Yuki and Kyo like I always do!"

Mayuko's protests were interrupted (again) by laughter from Hatori. He laughed heartily, "'Kill you?' What made you think I would 'kill you'?" Hatori laughed again, "Really Mayu, I thought you of all people didn't let your imagination run wild"

_Oh, more than you know Hatori._

"But…if you're not going to kill me…than what _are_ you going to do to me?" Mayuko asked, more curious than scared.

"…" Hatori didn't know how to say it, he started the car, "It's late, let's get you home".

During the silent drive, both riders were silently processing thoughts. _I wonder if Hatori can transform into an animal of the zodiac too! I wonder…_she then recalled the memory of seeing Shigure turned back from his animal form and blushed. About to open her mouth, she decided not to say anything, noticing Hatori's serious, silent meditation. Giving discreet glances at (the super hot) Hatori, Mayuko's imagination began to roam. _Maybe he's the…naw…or maybe it's…can't be…how about…_By doing this, she barely noticed when Hatori pulled up to her house.

"Oh…thanks Hatori, sorry for making you be up this late just to drive me home" Mayuko said slightly distracted.

"It's no problem, I usually stay up this late anyway" they both blushed when he said that.

"…Hey!" Mayuko exclaimed when she fully realized that she was in front of her house, "How do you know where I live!" (…stalker…)

Hatori, slightly embarrassed, didn't answer her, "I know you have some questions" he said, when he saw her open her mouth again, "But we'll talk tomorrow"

"Ok…" Mayuko was waiting expectantly for…something to happen, but she had no idea what. "Well…good night then…"

Hatori gave a tiny smile, "Good night Mayu, I'll leave when you get inside."

As Mayuko walked inside her home and gave a little wave to Hatori who was driving off, she leaned against the closed door. Her insides were bursting inside with questions. Questions about everything, how they had kept their secret for so long, and what animal did Hatori change into and…how in the world did her know where she lived? She was sure that he'd never been to her house before! She blushed at the thought, as she slowly sagged down the door, half from exhaustion and half from the whole excitement that had happened that evening. Apparently she had been asleep for who knows how long, because she was waking up. Wondering what woke her up, she heard a rapid knocking on her door.

Wondering who it could be at this hour, she looked through her peephole and gasped.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

So! What did you think? I know I haven't updated in a little while…okay, more like three months. I'm _sorry_! It's just that school started…I've already had a couple detentions…Honors classes…it's a whole ordeal. Please don't kill me! I know I deserve it, especially because I've ended with another cliffie, and started a new little mystery when I haven't even told you that the stranger is--! You _wish_ I would spill! But even though I haven't written in a while I haven't forgotten! Yeah…I know I'm a bad person. I'll try to keep updating more often though.. I'm still not sure when I'll be able to get to my _other_ story! Lol, man…I would SO want to kill the author if they hadn't updated in three months! Cause then I'd have to read _all_ the long ass chapters to remember how the story went! Hope I haven't disappointed you (and made you want to kill me) _too_ much! Have I gotten rusty? Please tell me if I have! Toodles!


	14. Gun Point

"H-Hatori?...Is that you?" Mayuko asked nervously towards the door.

"No" A cool voice from outside the door said. "I'm not Hatori, though I'm sure he'll be here soon"

"What? Who _are_ you!" Mayuko was getting more angry than scared now. What kind of jerk would come at so late at night and tell her crap like that!

"I'm not Hatori and I'm not going to hurt you. May I come in?" the late night guest said.

"…" Mayuko hesitated, he didn't sound like a pervert, but that didn't mean that he wasn't! This rude person bothering her so late at night probably had to do with this evening's events. Did Hatori lie to her about not having her killed! "…Fine. But you have to tell me who you are." And Mayuko slowly opened the door.

The door opened to reveal a tall man, almost as tall as Shigure, with the same black hair, and the same jet black eyes. The only difference was the foolish, carefree grin that was always on Shigure's face that this person didn't have.

"Ohhh! I remember now! You were that guy at the Sohma house!" Mayuko started to relax a little, relieved that it wasn't a member of the Mafia come to kill her.

"About that" he said seriously.

"Oh! Excuse me! I'm just so tired, would you like to come in?" she laughed a little at herself.

For once, this stranger who was always calm and collected didn't know what to say. "Er…yes, thank you" he said coolly as he walked inside Mayuko's house.

Glancing around, the stranger saw nothing out of the ordinary, then he chided himself, he wasn't on a mission, at least…not yet.

"Can I get you anything? Tea?" Mayuko suggested from her tiny kitchen to the living room where her late-night visitor was waiting.

"…Yes, thank you" the stranger said. Though actually, he had no intention of drinking tea at all, he had other things that needed to be taken care of.

After a few minutes of polite small talk from the kitchen to the living room, Mayuko finally appeared with a tray with two small cups and a small steaming teapot.

"Mmmm, that does smell good" The stranger said, rethinking about not drinking the tea.

"Thanks!" Mayuko said happily, "It's an old recipe that's been handed down through my family for…a long while".

"This is quite delicious" the guest said sipping daintily, "So, I came here to ask you-"

"Oh yeah! I remember now!" Mayuko said bubbly (a little _too_ bubbly), "So what'd you want to ask me?"

"Well" the stranger said, slightly irritated at this-another-interruption, "About this evening…"

Suddenly, Mayuko's happy carefree demeanor dropped and her face was filled with dread. How could she have been so careless!

"Do you…" he paused, "remember who won the contest?" he asked.

In the middle of a panic attack, Mayuko blinked and looked directly at him, "…What?"

"The contest between me and Shigure. He claims that he won and I told him that _I _the winner but" he paused again, this time looking at Mayuko, "…well we decided to ask you, an innocent bystander" he said the last part almost mockingly.

Mayuko gave what she hoped was an unnoticed _gulp_; "Uh, I'm pretty sure you were the winner, Shigure is just so full of crap…" she trailed off from her nervous rambling, unsure of what to say.

"And of course you noticed when Shigure turned into a dog, yes?" the stranger said watching her carefully.

"Um…yeah…" Mayuko was tense now, unsure of what was going to happen next.

"And…does Hatori know?"

"Well…it sorta spilled out when he gave me the ride home, not to long before you came"

Shaking his head, he stood up, "I'm sorry" he said.

"Huh?" Mayuko was really confused now. "Sorry for what?"

"This" Mayuko heard a click as the stranger reached inside his coat (he put it on before he left Shigure's house).

Mayuko was trembling in fear as her guest leveled a gun at her face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sorry (again!) that I haven't updated in a while, and I know that this one is short (only three pages). God, school is such a b! I'm either always swamped and/or getting homelate because of the F'ing bus or another detention from F'ing Greenberg! Sorry again! (and for cursing so much) Toodles!


	15. The Safe House

"Wh-what?!" Mayuko stuttered, "Look, I swear I won't tell anybody! Honest!" she couldn't look away from the barrel of the gun that was only a few feet away from her face.

The stranger (now with a gun) sighed, "It's not that simple" strangely, he was unwilling to kill, sure he'd done it before, to a few women too. What was it that made him reluctant to pull the trigger this time? "Even if you didn't tell anybody…" he sighed again.

"Well hurry up and get it over with then! Gosh, I make tea for some rude ass stranger that comes pounding on my door at one in the morning, and what do I get?! A gun pointed in my face!" Mayuko was getting pissed now, it was bad enough that he was holding a gun to her face, but he was just making her more tense and scared. Driven by a new sense of fearlessness and pissed-offness, Mayuko was ready to just go and get the gun herself.

"You're right" the stranger said, with renewed purpose, "Let's get this over with"

Shocked that her speech revived his purpose (to kill her), she took a step back—speechless.

As Mayuko's would-be killer cocked the gun, there was a feverish knocking on her door.

"Mayuko?! Mayuko!!" there was a scrabbling at her door, and then a hard shove.

"Ha--" Mayuko started

"Hatori?!" the stranger with the gun said genuinely surprised, his mouth gaping open at the sight of the Sohma family doctor.

"Mayuko! You aren't hurt are you?!" Hatori asked worriedly taking in the situation before him.

"Um…not yet" Mayuko said slightly breathless taking a glance at the stranger (who she made tea for) with the gun.

Hatori gave a pained glance at the stranger, they both knew too many of each others' secrets.

"What are you doing here?" Hatori demanded.

"I'd ask you the same question, but I already know" the stranger said slyly.

Hatori winced, "Leave. Now. I'll take care of this" Hatori then turned away from the stranger and focused his attentions to a confused Mayuko.

"Are you sure you're okay? I should've known better than to…" Hatori trailed off and began checking to make sure nothing serious had happened to Mayuko.

Mayuko just sat there silently thinking as Hatori proceeded with his check up.

After a long silence between the two, "Who was that?" Mayuko asked Hatori.

Hatori looked at Mayuko and hesitated, "Someone who's dangerous, stay away from him, and if you ever see him again, try to contact me"

"Oh…" Mayuko bit her lip contemplating this, "But I don't have your number". They looked at each other and blushed.

"Of course, how thoughtless of me" Hatori then proceeded to exchange numbers.

To clear some of the tense air, "Are you sure you aren't just saying that to hook up with me?" Mayuko said teasingly.

"Mayuko…I'm serious" Mayuko dropped her smile, it must be bad, he only called her 'Mayuko' in bad times. "That man is dangerous, he'll try to kill you again. And next time…I might not be there to stop him" Hatori looked down, "But then again, maybe I am using this as an excuse to get your number"

Hatori had the pleasure of seeing a deep blush creep up on Mayuko's face. "Come on, let's go" he said starting towards the door.

"'Go'?" Mayuko echoed.

"Surely you don't expect me to just leave you here after someone made an attempt on your life" Hatori explained, "So we're going"

"But going _where_?" Mayuko asked exasperated. _This man_, she thought, _sometimes he can be so…so…frustrating._

"To my place" Hatori said trying to keep a dignified look on his face.

"What? _Your _place?" Mayuko said eyes wide in disbelief, "Why _your_ place?!"

Hatori gave a sigh and turned to face her, "Because at my place I can protect you better than just dropping you off at some safe house"

"But why does it have to be at _your_ place?!" Mayuko demanded.

"Mayu" Hatori said tiredly, rubbing his temples, "Can't you just be mature about this?"

"No! Why do we have to go to your place?!" Mayuko said.

"Stop being so hard headed and just come on" Hatori said impatiently. He got Mayuko by the hand and dragged her to the door.

"Let me go! I'm not going with you! I'm staying here!" Mayuko ordered, dragging her feet.

Hatori continued to drag her along relentlessly, until he finally got to the car. He put her in and locked the doors. "I'll be right back"

Mayuko sat there in the passenger seat silently fuming. How dare he?! In her own home too! Now she was stuck inside the car, helpless. After calming down enough to think a little clearer, she blushed as she remembered the heat of his hand holding—grabbing—hers. She held her hand up to her face, looking at it with the moonlight coming through the window. It didn't look any different, just slightly red from where his fingers gripped hers. _I didn't know he was so strong_ she thought. Blushing, she put her hand back down on the arm rest, and sighed, _Oh well._

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Hola! I had a lot of fun writing this. Sorry of Hatori and Mayu were a but off character. I love the immature Mayu! She's so much fun! Anyway, I hope that I've updated in a decent enough time so that you all don't attack with flaming arrows. I know that the last chapter was about Mayu and Hatori too so I'll try to get back to Tohru and the rest of the gang soon. Maybe a possible Hatori and Mayu pairing! We'll see, toodles!


	16. Tohru's Guard

While Mayuko dealt with her own issues, back at the Sohma home, things were a mess.

"I-it's all my f-fault! If it weren't for m-me, this w-wouldn't have happened!!!"

"Tohru, it wasn't your damn fault so quit your cryin'!"

"Don't talk to Miss Tohru like that"

"Ow! Why the hell did you hit me you damn rat!"

"Please stop destroying my house; I just managed to cover up the hole from last week"

"You wanna piece of me?"

"I can barely stand your scent, much less any other fragment of yourself"

"Wahhhh! I'm such a terrible burden!"

"AHH! Don't break that! That was a new (after a hard crack)…table"

Suddenly, everyone stopped.

"My…my table…I really liked that table…" and Shigure slumped on the floor—fainted.

"Oh no!" Tohru immediately bent down to check Shigure's' pulse.

Kyo and Yuki were brushing themselves off from their previous scuffle; calling it a truce after the table was broken.

"What are we going to do?!" Tohru asked frantically.

"Well…there's nothing much to do unless you wanna try to glue the table back together" they all stared at the pile of dust that was rapidly blowing away.

"Yeah, I guess we should just go to bed, it is getting late" Kyo said stretching his arm over his head as he gave a loud yawn.

"I'm talking about Gure-San! What should we do about him?!"

"Oh, just leave him there" Kyo said unconcerned.

"He'll wake up, eventually" Yuki said ever practical.

"But we can't just leave him there!" Tohru said to the back of the boys' heads.

"Uh, yeah we can" the two boys said in unison as they were heading up the stairs.

Unsure of what to do, Tohru faced her unconscious patient once again. Leaning over her, she went to listen to his heart beat.

"Hmmm, this is nice" the retreating boys turned around when they heard Tohru's scream. Then after a big POOF, the 'unconscious' man lying on the floor vanished, with a grinning dog in his place. "I do wish we could cuddle more often…"

"Ah! G-Gure-San! Are you feeling better?" Tohru asked, distracting her from the momentary awkwardness she was felling.

"I think he's feeling _too_ good", Kyo and Yuki cracked their knuckles with glowing eyes as they stood over Shigure, giving stares of death.

"I think you need to lie back down" Yuki said.

"No really, I'm _fine_" pshawed the dog-man. There was another POOF, in the dogs' place was a grinning—naked—man.

"AHH!" Tohru shrieked and ran from the room.

"Stupid pervert, you were faking the whole time, weren't you?" Kyo said.

"Of course not" Shigure said with pretend hurt, "I…I really did like that table…but our little flower made it _all_ better"

BONK

Kyo and Yuki simultaneously hit Shigure on the head, and knocked him out, for real this time.

Yuki and Kyo looked at each other. Something just wasn't right, this evenings' event were just too…weird. The Sohma secret had gotten out, their teacher had seen Shigure transform, yet he was still joking around like nothing happened. They weren't sure of what was going on, but they knew that something would happen—soon.

Kyo gave another loud yawn and stretched his arm over his head again. "Well, I guess all we can do now is go to bed"

Yuki looked at him with calculating eyes. "You're going to bed? After what just happened?!" Yuki said in disbelief.

"Yeah, stupid, there's nothing else I can do, so why worry about it?"

"Don't you think it's suspicious? Our secret got out, it was _Shigure_ discovered no less, and nothing has happened. No messages from Hatori or _anything_"

Kyo shrugged, "Yeah, so?"

Yuki leveled his eyes at Kyo, "Do you honestly believe that Akito is going to like her lackey found out, and not do anything about it?"

Kyo's eyes widened, "You…you don't think she would…"

"I don't know" Yuki said with a sigh, "That's why I'm worried, mainly for Miss Tohru's sake"

There was a momentary silence, when Kyo processed all this.

"…Fine. I'll stay" Kyo said at last.

"What? What are you talking about?" Yuki said looking at him with those you're-so-stupid eyes.

"I'm talking about guarding Tohru! And stop looking at me with those you're-so stupid eyes!"

"Well you are, plus, you're too tired to stand guard. You're about half asleep already"

"Shut up! I'm a cat, I can stay awake longer if I--" Kyo yawned, "If I want"

Yuki looked at him skeptically, "Fine, but if anything happens to Miss Tohru, I'm coming after you". And with a final glance back at Kyo, Yuki headed towards the stairs.

Alone now, except for the unconscious man on the floor, Kyo sat in silence, alert and vigilant.

"Stupid Yuki" Kyo said to himself, "I can stay awake as long as I want …to…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Howdy! For all you poopy heads, this one isn't a cliffhanger. Boy do I love my cliffies! And yay to me for updating within a month! WHOOT! I'm pretty sure that a lot of you are happy that we're getting back to the Sohma family and out of the Mayu chapters. A few of you are rooting for them, and because of you I'm considering making another pairing (MayuXHatori)! But I don't know how often I'll be able to include them, so don't expect it to get heavy on the MayuXHatori! Toodles!


	17. Kyo Home Maker

"So…" Mayuko said feeling awkward, "This is your place huh?" Mayuko glanced around the spacious room she was in. It was plainly furnished but neat and tidy, the home of a bachelor.

"Yep" Hatori said rubbing his head from where Mayuko had hit him, "This is it." The memory was painful, Hatori had no choice but to lock her inside his car and get some of her stuff since she was being so immature, when he got back in the car Mayuko had hit him, upset that he had rummaged through her stuff.

"So…" Mayuko started. The air between them was just too…awkward. "Where do I sleep?"

"Uh…" Hatori was staring at the floor hoping that Mayuko wouldn't notice him blushing.

_How cute, _Mayuko thought, _he's blushing._

"Well…wherever you want to. You can sleep on the couch or in the bedroom…" they both blushed furiously, "Or wherever…"

"Um…" Mayuko had no idea what to say. She was just a teacher, that's why she became a teacher, so she could avoid situations like this. _This isn't supposed to happen to high school teachers!!!_ Mayuko screamed inwardly.

"Uh…thanks. I'm not that tired now…I can make you some tea…"

"Oh!" Hatori jumped at the chance to not be in the same room together, "I'll make some tea, you can just…relax or…" without finishing his sentence, Hatori headed for the kitchen.

_That woman…_, Hatori thought with eyes closed, _she has no idea what she does to me…_

XXXXXXXXXX

"W-what?! Who's there?!" Kyo said with a start waking up from …_Wait…was I…? Dammit, I feel asleep_. There was another loud clanging from inside the house. Kyo quickly got to his feet with cat-like stealth, and began to quietly tip-toe towards the continuing, though much softer, clanging noise.

When the noise had quieted, Kyo stopped and put his ears on the door, straining to hear what the intruder was doing. There was a short lapse of silence, then a slight creak that ended with a light thud.

_What in the world are they doing?_ Kyo was anxious to confront the person, but Kyo forced himself to remain calm so as not to frighten the intruder into fleeing. _Wait…what—_Kyo's thoughts were interrupted with a loud BANG.

"Huh?" the person had emerged and was quietly retreating from the kitchen.

Kyo was on the floor in pain, his nose felt like it was broken, and his forehead was sore and throbbing from the banging it just received.

"Who the hell are you?! And what the hell do you think you're doing?!" The pain clouding his vision slowly cleared, and his eyes adjusted to the darkness allowing him to see who the intruder—

"Tohru! What--?!" Kyo stopped when he noticed her looking frantic. "Wh-what happened?!"

"Th-there was--! A-a-a b-big--"

"Tohru!" Kyo grabbed Tohru's shoulders to calm her down, "What happened?"

"Th-there w-was a…a huge spider!" Tohru's eyes got as wide as dinner plates.

"What? That's it?!" Slightly annoyed (mainly because of the pain), Kyo immediately marched into the kitchen with Tohru peeping timidly over his shoulder, and with a merciless SQUISH, eliminated the problem (EW! With what?! His _foot_?!...Just because I'm the author doesn't mean I know EVERYTHING!).

"Uh…" Tohru looked at Kyo hesitantly.

"Problem solved" Kyo said abruptly, then he glanced at Tohru's still troubled face, "What? What is it _now_?"

"I'm so sorry for bothering you and waking you up…I'm such a nuisance…" Tohru began giving little sobs.

"Huh?" _She knew I was sleeping?_, Kyo glanced over at the living room where he was sleeping, he noticed a blanket on the floor next to that spot. _Guess she did, she must have put that on me when I was sleeping, how come I didn't notice?_ His attention was then reverted back to Tohru who was quietly sobbing next to him. Rolling his eyes at himself, he spoke tenderly to sensitive Tohru.

"Hey" Kyo patted her head gently, "What were you doing anyway?"

Tohru looked up at him with teary eyes, "I…I was cleaning the dishes"

"What! Tohru, it's probably 1 in the morning! Why are you washing the dishes now?!"

"Well" Tohru gave a little sniffle, "I was sleeping, and then…"

"Oh never mind" Kyo gave his lopsided grin and ruffled her hair, "Did you finish?"

"Um…not really…" Tohru said shyly.

"Come on, I'll help you" and before Tohru could protest, Kyo marched into the kitchen and turned on the lights. Then he realized—

"Tohru…were you trying to dishes the dishes in the dark?!"

"Um, well…yeah…I didn't want to wake anybody up" Tohru said slightly embarrassed.

"Tohru…" Kyo gave up with a sigh, "Whatever, let's just get this done" and Kyo made a motion to grab the cleaning sponge.

"Wait Kyo-Kun!"

"What?" Kyo said in mid-motion.

"Wear this" and Tohru held out a frilly pink apron with hearts all over it to Kyo.

"What?! There's no way in hell I'm wearing that!!!" Kyo said with his cat ears poking out ( ).

"But if you go to bed with your wet clothes, then you could get sick"

"Look, I'm not wearing that. And if I get sick, than I'll just stay home from school, not that I ever _do_ get sick" Kyo said snobbishly.

"Please Kyo-Kun?" Tohru gave him hard on puppy dog eyes. "I…I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I let you get sick…" she trailed off with her eyes getting teary.

"Fine! I'll wear the damn thing!" Kyo resentfully (towards the apron, never Tohru). _Great, just freaking great. Look at me! LOOK at me! _Kyo glanced around him and saw Tohru happily creating bubbles in the dish sink. Positive that no one else would ever see him, he set his hands under the soapy water. _The worst possible thing that could happen is that Yuki—_

"What's going on here?" a sleepy voice asked with a loud yawn. After finally opening his eyes enclosed by sleep (I hate that! Like, you ARE awake, but your eyes literally WILL NOT open!!!...Sorry, was that too gross?), the person asked, "Are you two doing dished? It's like 1 in the morning"

"Yuki! I'm so sorry! Did we wake you?"

While Tohru was talking to the still half asleep Yuki, Kyo turned a deep shade of red, and madly tried to remove the frilly, pink, heart-ridden apron from his persona (I don't care if I used the word wrong). When Kyo was trying to break the knot in the back, Yuki had become awake enough to be aware of his surroundings.

"…What?" a disheveled Kyo said glaring at Yuki who was laying against the doorway, "What're _you_ lookin at?"

"…Nothing" turning to Tohru, "So…you guys are doing dishes at 1 in the morning...because…"

"Hey! It's not like we _want_ to do this. So if you're going to talk, do it while you're washing instead of just watching us!" Kyo snapped.

"What? Did that apron give you secret housekeeper powers?" Yuki retorted.

"I'll show you secret powers all right!" Kyo raised his fist, ready to punch Yuki's face in.

"Oh, Yuki-Kun, here" Tohru held out an apron. Amazingly, it was impossibly more frilly, more pink, and more heart-ridden.

Yuki stared down at the apron Tohru was holding out, glanced at Kyo, and then back at the apron.

"…You want me to wear that?" Yuki asked, making sure he understood clearly.

"I just don't want you to get sick; I'd feel so terrible if…" Tohru trailed off again, teary eyed.

Hesitantly, Yuki gingerly reached out and took the impossible frilly apron from Tohru's hands. "Um…Thank you Miss Tohru for being so thoughtful…"

Tohru looked up at Yuki with large eyes full of gratitude, reluctantly, Yuki pulled the apron over his already disheveled head (yes, even the prince gets bed-head). With ears and face red, Yuki looked down at the dishes, "Let's get this over with"

All three of them had their hands in the soapy water, Tohru humming happily, with the other two boys scrubbing in silence.

"Hey, Tohru…where did you get these?" Kyo said, looking down at himself, swathed in frills and hearts.

"Oh! Um…" she knit her brows deep in thought, "I…don't know. They were here since…I think…"

"Never mind" Kyo said, pitying Tohru when she was trying so hard to remember.

"Oh! I think I remember now. I think last time Ayame was here (not in this story! So don't think you missed anything) he may have put some stuff in here.

"Ayame!" Yuki said in horror, who knew what things that freak had stashed away. Dashing towards a cupboard, both Yuki and Kyo opened up cabinets pulling out an assortment of clothes. Some relatively normal, a few fancy kimonos…WTF? Kyo pulled out a leather strip with an endless amount of chains attached.

"Uh…" Kyo quickly stuffed up the S&M outfit back where if came from, slamming the cupboard door behind him.

"Hey, what time do you think it is now?" Yuki asked with a yawn. "And where's Shigure? You'd think he'd be awake after hearing all those chains…"

"Huh? He's not where he was before?" Kyo asked. He hadn't noticed Shigure—or the lack of the Shigure—on the floor.

"You don't know where Shigure is?! You were supposed to stand guard _right next to him_!!!" Yuki said in disbelief.

"Shut up! I heard a noise and came to investigate, the pervert on the floor wasn't a major priority!" Kyo yelled back.

"So…" Tohru said entering the conversation, "…Where's Shigure?"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Yo, this is my longest chapter in a while huh? I have something evil planned for Shigure. And I just noticed, that I can't see an end to this story…yeah. This could go on for ever…and ever…but in the mean time, I want to make Wallflower story, but I've only read up to book three. Oh well…Toodles!


	18. Sleepy Heads

"Are you okay? You don't look so good" A voice whispered in the darkness.

"I'm _fine_" a voice replied slightly impatiently, "Besides, I'm not important. Did you take care of it?"

There was a silence as the other voice didn't reply.

"Did you take care of it?" the voice asked again, with a hoarse whisper, all pleasantness gone from the voice.

"There were some complications" the voice said blatantly.

"…'_Complications_'?" the voice asked.

"Hatori came and he ruined everything" _Even though I don't think I could've gone through with it anyway_

There was another silence. "Oh well" the voice said with good humor, "Let's just make sure we get it done _this time_"

Although the person said that in a sing-song voice, the end of their sentence sent shivers up his spine. _'This time' _meant that there'd be no _next time_.

"I'll do it next time, so don't worry about anything" the other voice said confidently.

"Oh I'm not" the other voice replied playfully, "But you should" it said much more gravely.

There was another silence, "I understand" and with a few quiet thrashes of some bushes, there was silence once again.

"How unnerving it is to think one's alone and then to realize that they're mistaken" the remaining voice said to its' surroundings. "Don't worry, I know you're here, and go ahead at tell what you heard…That won't change a thing"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ahhhhw" Tohru said (that was a yawn) "Time for school!" and she proceeded to do her usual morning routine. As Tohru was descending down the stairs with a basket of laundry, she noticed something out of the ordinary, though she couldn't put her finger on what it was. Looking around the house she couldn't help but feel that something was missing. After a futile investigation, Tohru gave up and went to wake up the boys. _The 'boys'?!_ Then it hit Tohru! Kyo wasn't downstairs in his usual spot, awake before everyone else. Worried, Tohru ran up the stairs and up to Kyo's room.

"Kyo-Kun?" Tohru peeped timidly into his room. "Are you here?"

When she got no reply, she proceeded into Yuki's room, thinking that maybe Yuki-Kun might know Kyo-Kun's whereabouts. Knowing that Yuki was a heavy sleeper, Tohru just went in directly into his room and examined his room.

"Yuki-Kun?!" Tohru looked frantically around the room. The sheets were tussled and looked like they had been well slept in, but Yuki was nowhere to be found. Tohru then went to the other side of the room.

"Yuki—Oh!" Tohru then sighed with relief at finding Yuki with no harm, just on the floor. Smiling, she placed a blanket on him and continued with her search for Kyo.

Giving up on the upstairs, Tohru headed back downstairs and outside the house. The area in front of the house was clear of any Kyo, so Tohru searched the sides of the house to no avail.

Looking in the back of the house, Tohru still found nothing. But then something caught her eye—a piece of fabric, behind a bush. Walking towards the bush, she was smiling at a Kyo lying on the ground in some sort of meditation.

"Good Morning Kyo-Kun! I've been looking all--"

"Ohh" Shigure said rubbing the top of his head, "Owww" he said groggily, then slowly lay back down on the carpet of grass, with the sun making a pattern of the bushes on his face.

Tohru, amazed and curious as to why Shigure would ever be sleeping in the back of the house, could still not rest until she found Kyo-Kun. Bright (and random) idea alert! Tohru thought about checking the—there was a beep inside the house, the laundry was done!

After taking care of the laundry, Tohru leaned against the wall exhausted, and it was only—8:40!! School started in (I'm pulling this out of my…uh…hair...) 20 minutes!! There was no time to waste! Running around the house so that she was only a chibish blur, Tohru looked up, down, around, in, out, through, and every other preposition, for Kyo.

Having still not found Kyo, Tohru needed a place to relax and think. She always felt more at ease when she was on the roof, so she headed there. Climbing onto the roof (don't ask me how she got up there. Super-Tohru powers maybe?) there was a bright glare from the sun. _Huh?_Tohru shielded her eyes from the sun, _Wha-?_

"Kyo-Kun!" Tohru exclaimed, this was the last place she expected to find him! But when she got no reply, Tohru became worried. _Oh, I hope he's alright…_Tohru went over to inspect him. **Poke poke** "Kyo-Kun? Are you okay?"

"Huh?" Kyo mumbled, "Why you pokin' me?" and he turned over—away from Tohru—in his sleep.

Unsure about how to wake up the sleeping cat-boy, Tohru sat next to him quietly, enjoying the serenity of the moment. She glanced down at Kyo, lying out in the sun sleeping peacefully. The cute way his mouth puckers because he breathes through his mouth (though he _swears_ he doesn't), the way it makes him look just so _soft_ when the wind blows his bangs into a frenzy on his forehead, the way---An alarm in the house told Tohru it was 8:50! School started in 10 minutes!!!

**Poke poke poke** "Wake UP Kyo-Kun!!" Still getting no response from Kyo, Tohru began shaking him gently on the shoulder.

"Wha…?" Kyo finally mumbled as he sat up. "…Why's it so bright?" he asked squinting.

"Hurry up Kyo-Kun! We'll be late for school! It's already 8:52!" (That's for you sticklers for details).

"So what?" Kyo said leaning back, enjoying the sun on his face, "We can just go to school tomorrow"

"But…" Tohru got a sad faraway look in her eyes, "I promised my mom that I would go to school and--"

"Alright, alright, let's go already" Kyo said interrupting Tohru, he didn't mean to be so rude, but he always felt awkward when she talked about her mom and got all mushy like this.

Back inside the house, Tohru and Kyo found Yuki sleeping with his face on the table, and his breakfast beside him.

"Yuki-Kun!" Tohru went to try and wake him up.

"Hey rat! Wake up!" and Kyo hit Yuki on the head, beating Tohru to him.

Yuki immediately stood up, and punched Kyo in the gut, sending him flying across the room. Then Yuki's arm went slack and his head went limp—he was asleep again.

"Yuki-Ku--"

Kyo leapt across the room and tackled the sleeping standing Yuki. "Wake up!" Kyo yelled, they were rolling across the floor, both at each other's necks.

When they got up, Yuki was fully awake now.

"How do you do it Miss Tohru? I only did those dishes for one day and I'm really tired" Yuki asked in polite awe.

"'_Tired_'? You were out quicker than a rookie boxer rat-boy!" Kyo scoffed.

"Well that's better than being--"

They both turned at the shriek.

"It's 8:59!!!" Tohru exclaimed.

They two boys glared at each other and then ran up the stairs super fast as only a manga character can do.

And at a few seconds before the minute hand was showing that it was nine-o-clock, the three were walking out of the house in uniforms. With Tohru walking in between them perkily, Yuki walking besides her without the slightest sign of a rush, and Kyo still half pulling his sleeves down, with bedraggled hair and wrinkled pants.

"Yay!" Tohru squealed, "We made it in time for school!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

There. I didn't end it on a cliff hanger this time. In today's chapter, I thought I'd make fun of the fact how they (in manga) somehow always being on time even with the most improbable situations (and solutions). I probably didn't do a good job mocking it, but you know what? You know what?! My birthday's in FIVE days!!! Yep! I'm turning 14 this Monday, November 20!!! Yeah baby! And as a birthday present, I want EVERY FREAKIN' ONE OF YOU to review!!! ;) Toodles!


	19. Back to School

"Hey Tohru" Arisa said, "How was your weekend?"

"Oh I had so much fun! Me and Kyo-Kun went to the movies and--"

"What?! You and that idiot? You mean like a _date_?!" Arisa exclaimed.

"What?!" Tohru said reddening, "N-no…"

"I had a most enjoyable weekend" Hanajima said, joining her friends' conversation.

"So what did you do?" Tohru asked, slightly relieved to get conversation off her.

"I went to a grave outside of town. It was lovely" Hanajima said.

Tohru and Arisa just looked at each other.

"Er…that sounds wonderful…?" Tohru said with slight question in her voice.

Then the bell rang.

"Oh! Well, I guess I'll be seeing you guys later" sad Tohru waving to her friends as she walked backwards down the hallway.

When Tohru got to her first period class, she saw a slight crowd in front of her homeroom door. She passed a group of giggling whispering girls.

"Omigod! That guy is _so _cute!"

"Hel_lo, _Mr. Mysterious"

"Why do you think he's here?"

Turning to look at the spectacle, she saw a scowling Kyo leaning against a wall near the door.

"Oh!" Tohru said aloud. Hearing her voice, the frowning orange-headed (it's ORANGE! Not RED!) boy turned in Tohru's direction with a glare.

"Come on" Kyo said gruffly, leading her out of the admiring group of people and into somewhere more private. "What took you so long to get here? Jeez, you'd swear you were across the neighborhood" he ran his fingers through his hair with annoyance. All those people staring at him pissed him off, why couldn't people just leave him alone? He then noticed Tohru staring at him worriedly.

"Hey…um, about last night" he started unsurely, "Do you know where Shigure went?"

Tohru was thoughtful, "…N…no…" Tohru said slowly—thinking, "I don't remember seeing him since that evening"

"What?" Kyo ran his fingers through his hair again. "What about when you put the blanket on me? Was he there then?"

"What?" Tohru blushed, "Um…I…don't think so…"she said biting her lip. "But I do remember seeing something on the floor…"

"Really? Like what?!" Kyo asked excitedly, finally a clue!

"…Oh…nevermind…that was in my dream" Tohru said with a blush and an apologetic smile.

Kyo began mumbling to himself; "Oh great, now I've got nothing. Stupid Shigure going missing…he's going to get it when I find him"

"Wait!" Tohru exclaimed, interrupting his quiet rant. "I _do_ remember seeing him!"

"When?!" Kyo said, excited once again.

"This morning!" Tohru said matter-of-factly.

There was a thud.

"Kyo? Kyo! Are you okay?" Kyo had dropped to the ground with feet up (manga style).

"This morning" Kyo confirmed

"Yep! I remember when I was looking for you I thought I saw you lying near a bush in the backyard…but it was Shigure!" she grinned, "He was asleep" then Torhu scrunched up her mouth, "I _think _he was still there when we left…"

_Hmmm_, Kyo mused to himself, _so Shigure was outside, and I'm pretty sure I heard those voices in the backyard too…why was Shigure there?... _

_Wait…I do remember a—_

"Oh no!" Tohru exclaimed, "That was the late bell, and if I'm late to homeroom I'll be in major trouble!

"Huh?" Kyo wasn't paying attention. Still thinking silently to himself, "Oh, you going to class? Okay?" and he gave an absentminded wave slightly off Tohru's direction. He began walking down the hallway in an unfocused (and not paying attention) zig-zag pattern. Tohru looked after him in concern debating whether to go after him and bring him back. When she heard the sounds of classes starting she hurriedly ran to homeroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Miss Honda?"

"Um…yes Mr.--"

"Why are you late to class? _Again?_" the teacher said in a condoling tone.

"Well—Erm—Uh…" Tohru stuttered.

With a clear _riiiiip_, Tohru was handed a yellow slip of paper, "Detention for an hour after-school today should help you figure out why you were late. You may be seated"

Tohru walked down to her aisle awkwardly with all eyes on her. Tohru put her books down and sat down with a sigh. She stared with sad eyes at her detention slip, than glanced up the board where the teacher was lecturing and gave another sigh.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hola! OMG I'm SOOOO sorry for not updating in so long. I actually forgot about this story XD… # . And I know it's really short. I have exams tomorrow so I don't have enough time to make it as long as would've liked. I had the plot all figured out and ready to type—but I just don't have enough time! I just got back from Chicago—a 6 day trip—and got back in the middle of the week. Just in time for exams! Yay! So that's messing me up. I just got another review, I was touched that someone FINALLY (and still) sent a review so I felt that since I have a little time to blow that I should at least do a _teeny, weeny, itsy, bisty, smally, wally_, bit. So that's what I did and I hope you enjoy! YOU BETTER REVIEW!!! I've noticed that you slackers don't review as much anymore! I better get at LEAST 30 reviews before I update again. And with winter break coming up this Friday, I"ll be able to keep my word (in case you don't trust me from not updating in so long). So this time I'm setting a requirement! 30 reviewsChapter 20Happy! Toodles!


	20. The Safe House Part II

"What is the matter Tohru?" Hanajima asked her unusually solemn friend.

"Yeah Tohru, is somebody messin' with you?" Arisa said bristly, "Cause I'll fix that" she said brandishing her bloody pipe which (again) appeared out of nowhere.

"Indeed" Hanajima agreed, her violet eyes shining brightly and her long dark hair floating above her head.

"No…it's…not that" Tohru started "It's just…I got another detention today…and with all these detentions I may not be able to graduate and keep my promise to Mother!" (I'm pretty sure that detentions can't keep you from graduating so sorry if I freaked anyone out. If that _were _true I'd be in trouble myself!)

"A detention huh?" Hanajima was pondering, "It's not that big of a deal Tohru, much worse things could happen"

Then the image of Mayuko's face when Shigure transformed filled her mind. Worse things could happen? They _did_ happen.

"Yeah, it's no problem" Arisa said breezily, "In fact, I'm up for a detention myself, Hanajima?"

"I could use some time away from home to study" Hanajima said.

"Then it's settled" Arisa said, "Well we'll be seein' ya after school then!" she gave a mischievous grin. "See ya later Tohru!" and Tohru's two best friends walked down a hall, leaving Tohru behind in mid-protest.

Walking to her second period in appreciation and incredulous awe of her friends, she bumped into someone.

"Oh! I'm so sorry-"

"Well if it isn't the 'little flower'" a deep voice said, much deeper than those of the male students at Kaibara High school.

"Huh?" No one else called her 'little flower' but…Shigure!

"G-Gure-San?!" Tohru looked up in shock.

"Nope, sorry" the man gave a chuckle, "Guess again?"

Tohru's eyes widened even more. "It's…it's you! You're Shigure's friend!..."

"I always knew you were a bright one" he said, his eyes held slight mockery in them.

"Oh! Well, um…" Tohru stammered, blushing.

"Well I must go now, it was nice seeing you" and he walked off down a hallway.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Second period was unremarkable, even if it _was_ interesting, Tohru was too preoccupied with all the things that had happened so far--and it wasn't even lunch time! It wasn't only the unexpected meeting of Shigure's friend at her school, but the absence of Kyo from class. Yuki--who was also in her second period class--noticed this too.

"Honda-San, do you know where Kyo went?" Yuki asked her after class.

"No, I was wondering where he was too"

"Hmm…" Yuki knew something was going on with Shigure and that for some reason Kyo was concerned about it.

"He talked to me before second period started and then just left. He seemed sort of…preoccupied" Tohru said. "Why? Is everything okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Oh no" and Yuki smiled his 'Prince Yuki' smile "Everything's fine, I was just wondering because he has one of my books"

"Oh, okay" Tohru said convinced, and walked happily beside Yuki to lunch. (I have no idea what their schedule is so I'm making lunch after third period)

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Urghh…_urghh_" she shuffled her feet towards the door. "Need…coffee" she mumbled. Dead tired from arguing most of the night, and then too anxious to go to sleep afterwards, Mayuko stumbled out the door and into the hallway. Normally she would cringe at these unfamiliar walls and furniture, but this was a crisis, she hadn't had coffee in 24 hours and was operating on merely her own strength. After a few minutes of zombie-like wandering, she finally found the kitchen. _Thank **God **this house is so small!_ she thought, for once appreciating a bachelor's lifestyle. With her eyes still glued together by sleep, Mayuko used her nose to sniff out the coffee. When she finally found it, she found only two choices: instant black and— She didn't bother reading the other, _'Instant', there we go_. She grabbed it and set it down on the counter. _Goddammit_ she thought, _Now I gotta find a freaking cup!_ She violently opened and closed cupboards, relentlessly searching for a stupid cup. When she finally found one, she gave a relieved sigh. _Ahhhh_, she thought, _Pure bliss_, as she sipped her instant coffee three minutes later. She leaned against the counter with her head resting on the cupboards behind her and closed her eyes—enjoying the feel of the caffeine rushing back into her body. She was so engrossed, that she didn't feel a pair of eyes burning into her skin.

Hatori's eyes were wide with shock, and his cheeks were pink with embarrassment. He awoke at his usual hour and had come into the kitchen to get his usual cup of coffee. But instead of finding his kitchen empty (like usual) there was her--_her_,with her skimpy lace tank top and short boxer shorts leaning out against his cupboards. Since she hadn't noticed his presence he attempted to compose himself before bringing attention to himself.

"Um…Mayu?" Hatori asked with forced calm.

"Huh?" Mayuko hadn't heard him come in. He was always a quiet footed man--always mysterious and cool, except for those few times. And it was those 'few times' that--_No_, she thought taking control of her thoughts, _Now is **not** the time to think about that, I **will** not think about that_.

"Oh! Um…" she then noticed how scantily she was dressed, her lacy tank top which showed…enough, and tight boxer shorts, she had on fuzzy pink socks and a serious case of bedhead.

Hatori tensely walked past her towards the sink, trying to ignore the warmth radiating next to him from the woman the spent the night at his house.

"Morning" he said emotionlessly while reaching for a newly clean mug, "Were you comfortable last night?"

"Oh yeah, I'm really sorry for kicking you out of your bed" Mayuko blushed. Hatori insisted that she sleep in his bed, he said he was fine sleeping on the couch.

"Oh, no need to apologize, I'm partly responsible for what happened, it's the least I could do"

"No really, I'm so sorry to be causing so much trouble" she insisted, "In fact, let me try to make up a little bit of the favor by making you breakfast"

"…What?" Hatori raised a confused eyebrow, whatever he was expecting, it wasn't that.

"Yeah, it's no big deal for me" Mayuko lied, "I live by myself too so I know how to cook". _Who am I kidding? _She thought,_ I even burn the Lean Cuisines meals…What am I getting myself into?_

"Um…" Hatori didn't know what to say.

"Really, I insist" she said putting on a tense smile. _Crap, crap, crap, crap, cra—wait! _Mayuko recalled seeing something instant in one of the cupboards when she was looking for a mug. She gave another fake smile to a confused Hatori. Aware that she wanted him to leave and unsure of what to do with himself, Hatori escaped the kitchen and left to go get the paper. _Finally he's gone! Okay…now where was it…_Mayuko began to search through the cupboards again. _Here it is!_ She thought grasping a box of instant oatmeal. _Oatmeal…? Oh well_ she shrugged_ Better than nothing._

_Whew! _Mayuko wiped her forehead with the only part of her arm that wasn't covered in something. _Hey! It's not that bad!_ The blob of goop inside the pot looked pretty edible, not too appetizing, but not like it was poisoned or something. Then she looked at the wreck she had made of the kitchen and herself. _Dammit_ she thought _THIS is why I don't cook! _

Hatori came back into the kitchen to see Mayuko scrubbing, he also noticed that she seemed to be covered with an assortment of things.

"Yes!" Mayuko said in triumph getting up from the floor, "I did it!" she was smiling and her eyes were glowing with victory. "Yessir _I _made break-fast!" she pointed to a bowl on the table, sitting there innocently with spoon laying on a napkin next to it.

Hatori hesitantly went to sit in front of the bowl obviously meant for him. He laid down his newspaper in a nearby chair and picked up the spoon. He glanced at Mayuko and saw her eyes expectantly watching him. Slowly he dipped his spoon in the lumpy oatmeal and placed it in his mouth. His eyebrows then shot up in surprise. This was great! Somehow she turned regular instant oatmeal into _this_!

"It's very good" Hatori said calmly, emphasizing his statement with a slight nod. Mayuko smiled with pleasure.

"I added my own special ingredient! But not telling what" she said with a wink. "I got pretty dirty doing this so I'm gonna go take a shower" and she walked out of the kitchen leaving Hatori to eat his oatmeal without her presence.

Mayuko emerged from the steamy bathroom with a towel draped around her, her wet hair spread across her back. She gave a relaxed sigh, the hot steamy shower helped relieve her tension and she felt ready to accomplish anything. She checked, and when she was sure that Hatori was still eating his oatmeal in the kitchen, she quickly sashayed to her room (well…Hatori's room but she's sleeping in it for now so I'm calling it hers—Deal with it!).

After putting on her underthings, she sat on the bed combing her hair. _Okay…what do I have to do today?_ She gave her hair a couple more strokes when a thought struck her, _Oh **shit**! I have to go to work!_ She then quickly dressed in her regular school clothes glancing at the clock whose digital numbers flashed 9:14am. (School for them starts at 9am)

Hatori jumped up, almost knocking over his chair, when he heard a scream from a Mayuko's—His—room.

"What's wrong?!" he asked bursting through the door. Mayuko hopped past him putting a sneaker on.

"I gotta get to work! It's past 9:15 already—Ugh!" she almost bumped into the wall. "He_llo_?! I gotta get to work! Where your keys? Shit I'm gonna be late!" Mayuko was getting even more annoyed because Hatori was just standing there looking at her funny.

"Work?" Hatori had a strange expression on his face, on between puzzlement and laughter.

"_Yes_ I'm going to work! It's called a _job_, and I need it to pay bills!" Mayuko exclaimed, exasperated with the man.

Hatori just shook his head, "Mayu…an attempt was just made on your life and you're worried about going to _work_?"

"Hey, I'm alive aren't I? With that said, I still have bills to pay so I can live in my house!" _God men are stupid, what part of JOBLIVING_ _doesn't he understand?!_

"…" Hatori just stared at her.

"What?!" Mayuko demanded.

"Someone was sent to kill you, and they _went_ to _your_ house so they know where you live. And if they could figure that out they probably know where you work too" Hatori explained to her.

Mayuko just stared off into space, absorbing his words.

"Mayu…you can't live at your place anymore"

Mayu just shrugged, "Fine, we'll take care of that later, but I still need to get to work!"

"…You can't go to work anymore either I'm afraid"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Whoo! Six pages ya'll! I'm gonna try and wrap up this story soon so I can start on my Inuyasha fanfic. I was listening to Rockstar by Nickelback for three hours straight and reading and whole bunch of Inuyasha fanfictions which got me thinking: What if _Inuyasha _was a rockstar? I've been itching to start that for a while, but I'm not so that I don't neglect either story and they don't end up in the 'Unfinished Stories' Graveyard like my other one which I'll have to finish…eventually. Oh, and about the review demands last chapter, I'm sorry. I was just getting a little greedy so just disregard that. Toodles!


	21. Detention and Student Council Meeting

"See? Detentions ain't that bad Tohru" Arisa said as she put her feet up on the desk in front of her. "It's better than being at home anyway"

"Yes, and it's much more convenient to do homework here than in the library" one of Hanajima's haunts was at the public library, and the couples that stayed their to make-out always disturbed her. (Lol, pun intended)

"Oooh! I love this song!" Arisa turned up the volume on her Walkman and sang along, "I swear I never meant to let it die…"

"But guys, we're supposed to be writing our essay" Tohru was diligently doing the work that the Detention Monitor had assigned them.

"Pah, like they even care" Arisa rolled her eyes, and used two pens as drumsticks on the table. Tohru looked over at Hanajima who was reading another horror book. Tohru gave a lingering glance at her half-finished essay, and let out a sigh. Giving in, she stopped writing and just sat there.

She stared out of the window, not really looking at anything in particular—when she noticed a familiar bob of silverfish gray hair float by. "Hey! That's Yuki-Kun!" she exclaimed.

"What?" Arisa and Hanajima looked out of the window, "Hey, it is him!" Arisa glanced at Tohru and noticed a longing in her eyes. "You wanna go talk to him?"

"What?" Tohru blushed and shook her head furiously, "Oh no! I—"

"Hey monitor!" Arisa called out, "We're leaving early" she stood up and walked towards the door. "You comin' Tohru?" Tohru looked helplessly at Hanajima who was already walking towards Arisa. Not wanting to be left behind, she followed after her friends.

"Uh…guys?" Tohru asked shyly.

"Come on, let's go talk to the prez" and before Tohru could stop her, Arisa was walking in the direction of the president. "Hey Prince!" she called.

Yuki was talking to a few members of the Gardening Club, when he turned to see who was calling him. A small smile graced his face when he saw Tohru and her two friends.

"Hi" he said politely, "What can I do for you?"

"Tohru here wants to talk to you" Arisa gave Tohru a hearty slap on the back (Jeez…Arisa is so butch in this chapter…).

"Wh—N-No! I…uh…" she stopped herself before she began babbling. "Well…what are you doing here Yuki-Kun?"

"Oh, well…there was a student council meeting today" he rolled his eyes in irritation, "So I'm probably going to be home late"

"Sorry to intrude but I have to go, it seems that my little brother is here to pick me up. Goodbye Tohru" and Hanajima walked with a creepily slow gait.

"Hey Tohru, my ride is here too. Gotta go!" Arisa gave a peace sign before walking off.

Tohru stood there with Yuki in silence.

"Er…Um…Tohru? I—"

"Well look who's here!" said Manabe strolling in and putting his arms over the two. "Why are you two just standing out here—alone—like this?" he slipped a wink over at Yuki, "Come on, we don't mind if you sit in on the rest of the meeting" he grinned at Tohru and gently guided her towards the empty classroom they were holding their meeting at.

"All right, all right, the meeting is now back in session!" Manabe banged a book on the table, and succeeding in getting everyone's attention. "Ahem. Okay, Halloween is coming up and we want to go out with a bang!" Sure that he had everyone's attention, he continued, "So the president and I were thinking…what about going on a fieldtrip to the movies? And to get into the Halloween spirit, we should make it mandatory that it's a…" he pulled a flashlight out of nowhere, "A scary movie!" Indistinct chatter started, together debating amongst themselves about a fieldtrip to the movies. The president just rolled his eyes; it was Manabe who did all the 'thinking'.

"So what in particular would we be doing?" Yuki asked, retaining the sarcasm to inside his head.

"Well…" Manabe gave a wolfish grin and scratched his head, "I don't know yet…but still! This would be awesome!"

Yuki shook his head in disbelief that anyone could be such an idiot, "Fine, we'll continue this next meeting. Everyone come up with ideas for our fieldtrip to—"

"The MOVIES!" Manabe and Kimi shouted! (You didn't forget about her did you?).   
"Yeah! Isn't that awesome Machi?" he asked his sister, who replied with a shrug.

"See ya tomorrow president!" said Manabe with a wave.

"Morons…" Yuki muttered to himself.

"Huh? Did you say something Yuki-Kun?" Tohru asked him.

"I was just saying that we should go home together now" Yuki said while giving her a tense smile.

"Sure!" she bubbled happily, and they started towards the main entrance of the school.

The two walked alongside each other in near awkward silence.

"So…" Yuki started, "What do you think about the fieldtrip to the movies?"

"Well…I don't really like scary movies that much…" she said sadly, "But I'm sure I'll still have fun!"

"Are you sure?" Yuki asked, "We don't have to see a…" he rolled his eyes, "A 'scary movie' if you don't want to"

"Oh no!" Tohru protested, "Don't go through all that trouble for me Yuki-Kun! You're too nice to me already! You always tutor me and I still don't get it…I'm so dumb" she gave a weak laugh.

"Don't say that" Yuki said brusquely as he halted abruptly, "You've done more for me that anyone else" he said looking at her intensely. He then looked away, slightly embarrassed, "Come on" he said softly, "Let's go home"

XXXXX

"Mayu…please come out" Hatori pleaded.

"No!" she yelled through the closed door, "Not until you give me your car keys!"

"It's too late now, school's already ended"

"I don't care!" Mayuko yelled stubbornly, I'm not leaving your room until you let me go back to work!"

"Mayu, think this through, someone tried to kill you yesterday" Hatori leaned his ear against the door, trying to hear what she was doing, "You're still in danger"

"Listen" Mayu jerked the door open, which almost sent Hatori sprawling, "I have a life! Or something like that…" she muttered, she glared at Hatori when she thought she saw a smirk on his face, "But no matter how sorry it is, it's mine and I'm going to live it to the fullest! So don't even try to stop me or—" she stopped talking when a loud grumbling noise emerged from her stomach.

"Come on, let's go get something to eat" Hatori said, trying to lure Mayuko out of the room.

"I'm not hungry" she said crossing her arms, but then her stomach gave her away by giving an even louder growl. _Traitorous stomach… _she thought.

"…Fine" she said, "But then you have to promise to let me go and live my life!"

"We'll see" Hatori said going back into I'm-Cool-Nothing-You-Say-Bothers-Me-Anymore-And-I'm-Not-Going-To-Tell-You-Anything mode.

Mayuko gave a frustrated noise and stormed past Hatori, "Sometimes you piss me off so much Hatori!"

Walking to the coffee table to pick up his keys, and he gave a chuckle "I know Mayu"

XXXXX

"Hello Gure-San!" Tohru said sweetly.

"Why hello my little flower, and hello Yuki, Ayame was here a while ago, he wanted to talk to you" Yuki tried to suppress the twitch the came whenever his flamboyant brothers' name was mentioned. For once, he was glad that there was a student council meeting today.

"Glad as I am to see you" Shigure continued, "Where is Kyon-Kichi? I don't take him for the type who stays after school" Shigure grinned at the image of Kyo with a pair of think nerdy glasses pouring over thick books in the library. And because this is an anime and my story, this thought-bubble was visible to everyone, which freaked the hell out of Yuki, while Tohru was distracted by a squirrel on the doorstep (Random, but thought you might like to know).

"Wait" Yuki said, after recovering from seeing the disturbing (produced by yours-truly!) image from Shigure' mind. "You mean Kyo's not home?!" asks Yuki being unusually slow.

"I think I might know where he is" said a voice from the doorway.

The room lay still and lifeless save for Shigure, everyone else stood frozen in shock.

"A…" Tohru whispered, "Akito…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Yo, I haven't updated in like ever. I was doing my Rockstar story. Anywhoo, I hope I shocked you! I have an evil plan…I'm going to try and activate it…now! Ha ha! You are now going to review on my story and tell me what you think should happen! And I wanted to apologize, I think that everyone was a little Ooc. Sorry about that. Well just wanted to thank you all for staying with me for so long! Toodles!


	22. Akito's Here: Out to Dinner

"Did you forget about me?" she asked (Yes, she's a girl here…I think I said that before), Akito sauntered a little closer to Yuki, who now realized that he was standing by himself.

"I will _never_ let you forget about me" Akito snarled, she grabbed a fistful of Yuki's hair and twisted it until he was looking up at her and on his tiptoes in pain. "I am _god_," she whispered. Akito then focused her attention on Tohru who was cowering near the wall as far as she could possibly get.

"And _you_, you miserable, ugly girl" Akito said, she pulled a clump of Tohru's hair, and threw her to the ground, "I'm so sick of looking at you,"

"And why have you decided to grace us with your presence Akito?" Shigure asked with a smirk. "And if you know anything about the location of our precious Kyo, then do tell"

"Shigure, you insolent dog—"

"Insolent?" Shigure put on a socked expression, "Never to you Akito, I am merely your lap dog whom you may chose to acknowledge" he lowered is head humbly, but the effect was ruined by that ever-present smirk on his face.

"Do not forget that I am you master and creator," her eyes glinted evilly and a smile graced her face, "And I can take your life away if I wish"

"Please!" Tohru cried out, (Jeez, what an idiot) "Where is Kyo-Kun? I'm just so worried about him an—"

"You wretched girl!" Akito quickly strode towards Tohru and clutched her face with both hands, "You _are_ trying to take them away from me! I will never let you!" Tohru's eyes glittered with pain as Akito sunk her razor-like nails, into Tohru's flesh. "And if you continue to try" Akito pulled Tohru closer to herself, as her voice dropped to a low menacing whisper, "I will kill you"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Ah, it's so peaceful here. I hope that Tohru isn't worried about me. _Kyo lazily watched a moth passing by, _I just need to think, and at home…there are just…too many distractions. _

XXXXXXXXXXXX

"Tohru!" Yuki forgetting formalities, called out her name, not caring if Akito turned her wrath towards him—in fact, that's what he was hoping would happen. "TOHRU!" he called again.

Fixing her glare onto Yuki, she threw Tohru aside, leaving her to scamper aside.

"So you choose that filthy girl over me!" Akito pointed an angry finger at a sobbing Tohru. "Who else?! That sniveling teacher of yours that discovered our secret!"

Akito smiled at the expression of shocked surprise that appeared on Yuki's face, she chuckled, "You think I didn't know? I know _everything_. And as to where your precious cat is…"

XXXXXXXXXXX

"Hatoriiii" Mayuko whined, "I don't want to cook, I just want to eat out and relax. I'd have to clean and do dishes…Yuck!" Hatori was driving towards a nearby mini-grocer to pick up a few things that they could eat.

Hatori looked thoughtful, "Taking you out in public would only put you in more danger"

Mayuko gave an angry snort and crossed her arms over her chest, that seemed to be Hatori's phrase of the day. All she ever heard him talk about was danger, danger, danger. How could she be in danger if she didn't even know what she did?!

"I don't care about the so-called 'danger'! I'm perfectly fine and capable of taking care of myself!"

"Like you did that night?" Hatori asked referring to the evening when Mayuko had seen the Sohma family secret first hand.

Mayuko opened her mouth to reply then shut it with a pout. "I'm a high school teacher" Mayuko reasoned, "Nothing can surprise me"

"You can tell that to the next person who puts a gun to your head" Hatori said coolly.

"How did you…" Mayuko shrugged and decided that she didn't want to know—at least not now, now she had more pertinent things to deal with.

"Puh-lease! Come on Hatori, for an old friend?" Mayuko poked her lower lip out and looked up at Hatori with puppy dog eyes. Hatori laughed. With his elbow on the steering wheel, Hatori rested his head upon his fist as he turned to look at Mayuko (They were at a red light…I hope).

"Do you _really_ want to eat out that badly?" Hatori asked unsurely.

"Yes!" Mayuko said as she nodded vehemently, "Please Hatori! Just this one time, then you can lock me up in your safe house!" Mayuko stopped talking and blushed. They had been acting like the old friends they used to be, laughing and teasing with none of the usual awkwardness.

"Er…" Hatori blushed slightly also, "Hopefully that won't be necessary," he said trying to lighten the sudden blanket of discomfort between them. "But I guess this _one time_ won't hurt…"

"Whoo! Thank's Hatori!" Mayuko gave him a look of pure gratitude and smiled. Calming down a bit, she fully rested her head against the seat and looked up towards the ceiling of the car.

"You know…I'm sort of glad this all happened" she said.

Hatori cleared his throat to cover up the startled surprise he felt, "…And why do you say that?" his hands gripped the steering wheel tighter.

"I don't know. I guess it's just…" Mayuko shrugged, "Well, after…what happened, things just sort of…fell apart between us. Not exactly the best circumstances but" she smiled towards the roof of the car as she twiddled her fingers, "Hey, what can you do?" she gave hopeless shrug, but smiled as she did.

"So, Mr. Protector" Mayuko said with a grin, "Where're we going for grub?"

Hatori stayed silent as he focused on the road, he refused to let his eyes—or thoughts—wonder over to the person sitting next to him in the passenger seat of his car. "We should be there in a few minutes," he said as he made a turn.

"Cool" Mayuko said with thumbs up, suddenly tired; she once again rested her head against the seat. Closing her eyes, she dreamily said, "Wake me up when we get there Hatori…"

Hatori finally gave in and allowed himself a glance at his companion. Mayuko's face turned on its side, giving Hatori a full frontal view. Her breathing was slow and regulated, and her body was relaxed, Hatori smiled slightly, her sometimes childish behavior shows up on her face when she sleeps. Mayuko suddenly twitched as if she could feel the inspecting eyes on her face, Hatori quickly looked away and once again focused on the road ahead of him.

"…What are you thinking?" Mayuko mumbled as she lay curled up on her side, "I can never guess—I never could—ever figure out what goes on in your mind"

Hatori tightly pressed his lips together, and focused ever more intently on the road.

"No really…I wanna know Hatori"

"…Right now I was just thinking about—we're here," he said as he swerved into the restaurants' parking lot. He glanced over at Mayuko, only to find her once again sleeping.

"Wake up Mayu" he said softly, after no avail Hatori reluctantly touched the delicate shoulder and shook her gently.

"Huh? What? Are we here yet?" Mayuko said with a yawn, she looked through the windshield. She looked at the soft lighting, and the trees arranged prettily in a small garden to the side. _Hmm…I don't remember Applebee's' having gold letters—OMG! _

"Hatori!" Mayuko yelled, "Do you know where we _are_?!"

"I drove here didn't I?" Hatori said sarcastically (but still all suave like).

"Hatori! This is a restaurant! I mean a _restaurant_ restaurant! You know, with waiters that have ironed uniforms, and no peanut shells on the floor, forks and spoons that don't have fingerprints on them!" they stepped out of the car and Mayuko watched in horror as Hatori paid a man to go park his car for him. "Valet parking?! Hatori! I just wanted to go to somewhere like T.G.I Fridays or something! Not some fancy restaurant whose name I can't even say because it's in French! I just wanted a cheeseburger, a milkshake, and some fries. Really! That's it!"

Hatori just shrugged, "I know the owner so we can get a good deal, plus, the food is good" he said simply.

"Yeah, and so is Burger King! This is just way too fancy for me, can we just go to the drive through or something?"

"There is less of a risk that someone is after you if we come here" Hatori said explaining, "If we just go to any McDonalds nearby, you could be in danger—"

"I am so sick of this 'danger' crap! What exactly am I in danger _of_? The only 'danger' I can possibly think of is my car being towed or losing my apartment—both which suck, so I don't really care!" she looked at Hatori who had been watching her quietly during her rant. "I appreciate what you did Hatori, I really do but—"

"Mayu…" Mayuko held up a hand.

"But I'm fine really, whatever psycho killer is out there, probably gave up on me. I want to know why you keep playing the danger card. And no beating around the bush" she used 'The Look' as she stared at him, years of teaching had helped her master this.

Hatori looked at her with slight pleading in his eyes. After she showed no signs of relenting, Hatori gave a deep sigh of surrender.

"Fine" he said, "You deserve to know. But you have to promise that you'll listen to me straight out" Mayuko opened her mouth to speak, "Just promise" Hatori said.

"All right" Mayuko said as she let out air that she didn't know she was holding, "I promise.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sorry this chapter is so short, it's only four pages. Strangely, I get exhausted when I write this story. I'm just having a slow week—or month if you've seen the last time I updated—and I'm a bit shallow on ideas. But thanks for putting up with me so far. I really need your help though, I need more original ideas, so please review and tell me some good ones. I've been kind of sidetracked because of all the madness going on. First high school audition, piano recitals, grades come out soon—which reminds me, if I don't update again soon, it's because my report carded came out and my mom and/or dad killed me. But yeah, thanks again! Toodles!


	23. The Aftermath of Akito

"What are you doing?" Mayuko asked Hatori, who had his hand covering his face, she peered closer to see if he was okay.

Hatori didn't reply, he was focusing on keeping the flame from going out as he carefully guided it with a cupped hand, towards his cigarette. He gave a content sigh as he took a long drag of his cigarette and blew out a puff of smoke.

"Are you alright?" Mayuko asked hesitantly, "I thought you quit smoking"

Hatori took another long drag before replying, "I thought I did too" he tapped his feet anxiously before he blew out the smoke for the last time. "Alright, I'm ready" he said as he put out the butt of his cigarette on an ashtray on top of a trashcan, "Ready to go in?"

Mayuko nodded after having waited patiently while Hatori had a cigarette, "Let's get this over with" she said with a faltering smile.

Hatori held open the gold gilded glass doors, as Mayuko walked inside with awe. She first noticed a fountain in the middle of the room emitting soothing sounds of falling water. Then she realized the plush velvet carpet that she was standing on, and the golden chandelier hanging above the center of the room. _Holy crap…is that real?_

"Okay, I changed my mind, I can't do this!" she quickly retreated and somehow ended up…in Hatori's arms.

"Wha—? Hatori let me go! This place is wayyyy too fancy for me!" she continued to futilely struggle against the warm, strong arms of—_No! _**Bad**_ thoughts! Bad! I can _**not**_ be thinking this!_

"Please Hatori!" she pleaded again, _I seem to be doing this a lot_, she thought dryly. "I'll be embarrassed!" she looked desperately up into Hatori's eyes.

"Mayu, you have nothing to be embarrassed about" Hatori said gently grabbing Mayuko by the shoulders and returning the deep look into her eyes.

"How can I not be?" Mayuko asked scornfully (Gosh, what's _her_ problem?).

"Mayu…you're—"

"Bonjour, how may I help you?" asked a voice in a fancy French accent, he briskly picked up two menus from the receptionists' desk. "Table for two?" he asked as he glanced with contempt at Mayuko's ensemble of thrift store jeans, and a paint splattered tee (Hey, being a teacher's expensive—believe me, I know).

"Yes please," said Hatori clearly, now only holding one of Mayuko's shoulders, he gently pushed along her as they followed the snooty waiter. "Remember what you said?" he whispered in her ear.

"What?" Mayuko whispered back, she nearly shivered when she could feel him smile as his voice lightly skimmed over her ears.

"You're a high school teacher" his smile grew—tickling Mayuko's skin even more, "Nothing bothers you"

"What?" she glanced behind her at Hatori was grinning at her oh so charmingly and just so swee—

"Here you go" the waiter said, pointing to a dimly lit table in a cozy little corner of the restaurant.

Mayuko turned to retreat again, but was once more caught by Hatori's out stretched arm. She stared up into his face and glared at him when she saw him grinning with amusement. Seeing how it was hopeless, Mayuko sighed and then turned around and treated the waiter to a big fake smile (You know those, the one's where all of a sudden there's a flowery background and her hair is flowing, yeah like that). The waiter courteously held out a chair for Mayuko, who…

Mayuko felt a sharp nudge in her back, "What?" she whispered sharply to Hatori, the obvious perpetrator, she then looked in front of her and noticed the waiter tapping his foot impatiently as continued to hold out the chair for Mayuko.

"A_hem_"

"Oh! Er…sorry" Mayuko said as she gingerly took a seat in the held out chair. She unsurely looked around as Hatori seated himself.

"My name is _Jacque _and I will be your waiter for this evening" he placed the menus in front of the two. "I will be back later to take your order" and with that, he smartly bowed to them, and strode off to help direct the next customers.

A petrified Mayuko and a smirking Hatori were left sitting across each other—alone.

"See?" Mayuko said, bringing up once again, her one-sided argument, "I'm not meant for a fancy place like this" she waved her hand, pointing to the various things like gold statues, the numerous crystal chandeliers, or expensive looking paintings. "Look!" she cried (not too loudly though…they _are _in a restaurant ya know) pointing to the menu, "The _salad_ is almost as much as my _phone bill_!"

"Are you still going on about that?" Hatori asked (I know, totally ooc, but deal with it).

"Yes I am still 'going on about that'!" she mimicked angrily, "I…" she gave a sigh, "I just feel so…" she trailed off.

"You let me stay at your house—after you _saved_ my_ life_! And then I bullied you into eating out…and you're paying for some expensive pompous crap that you probably don't even want to eat, all because of me!" Mayuko then despairingly stared at the menu.

Hatori looked at Mayuko—unsure of what to say, but he made no motion to comfort her, seeing as how upset she was.

After a few moments of silence, Mayuko broke the silence.

"Hey Hatori…"

Hatori patiently waited for Mayuko to continue.

"What do you think _Gratin de Fruits rouges_ means?" she furrowed her brow thoughtfully, "The closest thing I can think that it means is 'something fruity rouges'" she shrugged and put her palms out in a who-knows? fashion.

Hatori looked at her curiously before answering, "So…is that what you've been doing? Making up definitions for the menu?"

Mayuko shook her head absentmindedly as she continued to scan the menu, "Naw, only the French words…"

"So," a snobby voice said, "Have you decided yet on your order?" the less than enthusiastic waiter glanced down contently at Mayuko with her nose—literally—in the menu.

Hatori coughed, but seeing as how he still lacked Mayuko's attention, he ordered for them, "Um yes…" Hatori took a last look at the menu, "We'll both have the special"

The waiter—_Jacque_—quickly jotted down an order for two specials, and nodded—confirming the order.

"And the wine?" he asked.

"Whatever's cheapest" both the waiter and Hatori looked at Mayuko—who they both thought wasn't paying attention.

"Umm…sir?" asked Jacque looking hopefully at Hatori—pen poised in hand and pad ready.

"Uh…" Hatori glanced at Mayuko who glared at him with a determined twist of her lips, "Yes, what she said"

Jacque wrote down the order, "With," he glanced disdainfully at Mayuko, "the _cheapest _wine" and he walked off with an insulted sniff.

"Um, Mayu…" Mayuko held her hand out.

"No, I wasn't going to let you pay for the wine too, so…just let it go" she looked straight into Hatori's eyes (which unnerved him slightly).

"Even though I'm _really_ mad at you for doing this…" she looked off at the fat lady who kept complaining about the treatment of her pet bulldog 'William Shakespeare', "Thanks" she gave a soft smile and sighed.

Hatori's heart jolted; he felt terrible. What he would have to tell her and…he was praying that dinner would never end, so that he wouldn't have to tell her—

"Dinner" Jacque removed the silver tray covers with a flourish, "is served"

XXXXX

Tohru sobbed quietly even though Akito had left a while ago, Yuki looked down at the crying girl with concern.

"Here," he gently cleansed the wounds in her face, inflicted by the razor sharp nails of Akito. He paused when Tohru went pale and her breath caught, "Are you alright?" he asked tenderly, he sadly looked into her eyes when she quietly nodded.

Yuki continued in the cleaning of her cuts in deep thought. Akito had come in a rage for which the reason was unknown. It was surprising enough that the goddess had come so suddenly, but she had come without her lackey—Kureno, which puzzled him even more.

And the fact that she knew that Kyo was missing wasn't a good sign. For once, Yuki thought of Kyo with something other than irritation, he was concerned—and very rightly so—Akito had gladly told them that she knew where Kyo was.

"Eep!" Yuki quickly stopped himself when he heard Tohru's quiet cry of pain.

"Ouch" she said as she bit her quivering lip (don't try that at home kids).

"Sorry" Yuki said, he slowly dabbed at the last of the wounds and gave a small smile. "There, all cleaned, now we just need to get you a few band-aids"

Tohru smiled back, but the smile was quickly dropped, "What about Shigure-San?" she asked worriedly.

Shigure had gotten caught in the crossfire between Akito and Yuki. Yuki had quickly retreated the room with Akito with Tohru while Shigure had invoked the wrath of their leader. Before Yuki fled the room, the last thing he saw was Shigure trying to get hold of Akito's flailing wrists—not without similar cuts and scratches to his face.

"He got a few cuts on his face too" Yuki told Tohru, "But that's all I know, I don't know if he got any worse injuries than that" he quickly put band-aids on Tohru's cuts, and led her down the stairs to see Shigure.

The two walked down the stairs together slowly, Tohru gasped when she saw the wreckage of what once was their living room.

The lamp had been wrecked and strewn about, there were various holes in the door and the walls, the small table had a leg missing—Tohru saw it on the other end of the room and broken into two pieces, various other pieces of furniture lay about in the similar fashion. Tohru and Yuki looked at each other worriedly after the witnessed the remains of Akito's wrath.

What had they done to invoke her rage?

Tohru hurried to Shigure, who lay locked up in his room. She knocked timidly on his door.

"Umm…Shigure-San…are you alright? Yuki-Kun told me that you got hurt" Tohru patiently waited against the door, until Shigure finally opened the door.

Tohru gave a small gasp when she saw Shigure's face. He just laughed.

"That bad huh?" he asked with a small grin and then looked away from Tohru's shocked face, "It's all right, I've had worse" he gave a chuckle with no humor, "A lot worse"

Tohru just cocked her head to the side with contained curiosity and…pity? Shigure didn't want it, but continued anyway—it made no difference anyway whether or not she knew of all the injuries inflicted on him by their lovely goddess Akito.

"But you were worried about me? I am ever so thankful that fate thrust you upon my household" he grinned outlandishly at Tohru whose face changed from a patient listener to one that looked pained.

"But" she whispered, "Doesn't that hurt?" she tenderly gazed at the similar scratches on Shigure's face.

"Yes" he lightly touched his wounded cheek, "I suppose so, but one get's used things like this" he gave a bitter laugh and Tohru edged away nervously.

"Um…I'm going to go get some things to clean your cuts and I"ll bring some bandages" and she scurried away to retrieve the articles.

Shigure stroked his injured cheek again, he winced when he accidentally grazed a particularly deep cut.

"Ah..." he said at the sting, then he gingerly poked his tender eye which Akito must have gotten at some point.

"She always was a wildcat" Shigure muttered to himself.

"But you're not one to get caught in between—at least not when it comes to the blows" Yuki said dryly as he leaned against the door.

"Heh" Shigure said sardonically, "Actually, I've been caught in the crossfire more times than you think" Shigure said with a meaningful raise of his eyebrow.

"Oh really?" Yuki said, he stared at Shigure with a calculating gaze—the man was forever involved with hidden agendas and secret plots—and he could never figure him out.

Shigure stared at the piles of papers on his desk, successfully avoided Yuki's gaze, he knew that Yuki was trying to drag something out of him—but he wouldn't bite. Too many things were tottering on the edge—which would either plunge into a depth of nothingness or would flop back onto the secure safety of land—and the outcome wasn't sure, and Shigure was usually sure about everything. Except…there was this one thing…

"She told me something" Shigure said, Yuki raised his eyebrows but said nothing, "About Kyo"

Then Yuki lost his cool and calm demeanor, "What did she say?" he demanded.

Shigure shrugged, "I can't say that"

Yuki clenched his fist with anger, "Why? Cause it'll ruin some scheme you're behind?"

Shigure stared at Yuki openly, but his face was emotionless, "…Look, all I can tell you is that she metioned that Kyo might be with Kazuma but—"

"R-really?" she looked at Shigure hopefully, "Phew! I was so scared for a minute!" she placed a relieved hand over her chest. "So everything's fine then?"

Shigure leaned back in he chair he was sitting in (Yeah, he was sitting this whole time—sorry 'bout that) and rubbed his temples.

"I hope so"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Hi! How long has it been since I last updated? Whoopsy, I tried to update earlier, but remember what I said about me report card (Last chapter)? Yeah, it was WWI all over again. I tried to make it longer to make up for my last chapter which was only four pages. Please review! I feel like you guys hate me for being such a slow updater…(sniff). Toodles!


	24. The Forest: Yuki and Tohru

"Yuki-Kun?" a shy voice asked, "Do you think…"

"I'm sure Kyo is fine" Yuki said with small—yet reassuring—smile to Tohru. She smiled back gratefully and then continued to observe the forest that they were walking through. Not too long ago, Shigure had revealed that Akito knew the whereabouts of Kyo. Tohru smiled with relief now that she knew that Kyo was safe and that she and Yuki were heading towards her beloved cat.

Ahead of her, Yuki walked with a less cheery disposition.

He couldn't help but feel something amiss about the whole situation. First with Akito appearing out of nowhere, and then Shigure…Yuki's brow knitted with calculating thought. Yuki glanced behind him to see Tohru looking back and forth happily at the different little critters in the trees—as happy as he was for her, he couldn't help but frown as he continued with graceful steps over and around gnarled tree trunks, large stones, and little animals that skittered by.

The two continued walking in silence.

"Oh my, it's starting to get late Yuki-Kun…maybe we should turn back?" she gave a wobbly smile, "Besides, I'm sure that Kyo-Kun is safe with Kazuma-San" Tohru said, but it sounded as though she were trying to convince herself rather then Yuki.

"I think that we can make it before nightfall" Yuki said calmly with no hesitation, he continued walking—expertly stepping over a fallen log. (Being the gentleman that he is) Yuki turned around to assist a struggling Tohru, but as he steadied her shaking self, she suddenly tripped and landed on Yuki.

_POOF_

Tohru gasped, "I'm so sorry Yuki-Kun! I'm such a terrible clutz" she nervously picked up the small white rat that lay surrounded in a pile of clothes.

"It's not your fault" Yuki said with a tiny sigh, he gently patted Tohru's palm with his small paws as the petite girl wallowed in self-guilt.

"Please don't feel bad Honda-San," he cocked his tiny head and looked up into Tohru's watering eyes, "Besides, we must continue if we're going to see Kyo before sundown" Yuki added.

Tohru brightened up a little bit at the reminder of their purpose, "Of course! How could I be so forgetful!" she placed newly bright eyes on the small rodent in her palms, "Don't worry Yuki-Kun, I'll get us there!" before starting off with renewed enthusiasm on their quest, she gathered Yuki's clothes and placed them in a folded bundle under her arm.

Yuki nimbly leapt on to Tohru's delicate shoulder where he stayed so that he could guide her.

After nearly twenty minutes of guiding Tohru from her shoulder Yuki, jumped off and landed gracefully on the dirt floor.

"Yuki-Kun?" Tohru asked confusedly, she watched the small creature walk towards a series of bushes which concealed his person from her. She followed the rat into the bushes until a swift _POOF _caused her to jump back with a shriek.

No longer was there a tiny white rat if front of her, but a very tall (and very much nude) human boy (KAWAII!).

"AAH!" Tohru shot away from the bushes and covered her hands with…she realized that Yuki would need to get dressed, and with closed eyes, she tossed Yuki his clothes who caught them with cat-like grace (Lol, who ever heard of _rat_-like grace?).

"S-s-sorry" Tohru sputtered out as she averted her eyes from the teenage boy dressing behind the bushes near her.

"No problem" Yuki said, he stepped out from behind the bush and gave Tohru a smile which made his purple eyes shine, "Come one" he said, "We're almost there"

Tohru blushed as Yuki lightly clasped her delicate hand into his own, and began leading her along the way.

XXXXX

Kyo was suddenly aware of the breeze causing his hair to sweep back and forth along his forehead. He sat up, trying to remember where he was. He glanced around in a slight panic, but then relaxed when he saw the familiar home in far sight.

With a relieved sigh, Kyo settled back into the imprint of his form that was in the grass. His eyebrows rose slightly, he was surprised that the had been sleeping long enough to—

Sleeping.

Kyo smacked his head in annoyance of himself. He had come to Kazuma's house to do some deep thinking. He had accidentally blown off Tohru at school, and he left no trace to where he was. With slight guilt, he imagined Tohru going frantic—stumbling into and falling over various—_large_—objects.

"I guess I should be heading back now" Kyo mumbled to himself, he put his hand to his eyes, trying to block the blazing rays of the setting sun.

Kyo slowly stood up, eyes squinted as he gazed at the place that he practically grew up. He grinned with silent gratitude when he thought of his master and the closest thing that he had to a father, and walked in a lazy man's pace towards Kazuma's house.

XXXXX

"We're almost there Honda-San" Yuki said with a bright smile, "It won't be much longer" he gave a small tug on Tohru's small hand which caused her to blush even more.

The two continued at a comfortable pace with Tohru 'Ooh'ing and 'Ahh'ing at the scenery around them when suddenly Tohru crashed into the back of Yuki.

"Ouch!" she squeaked as she gingerly rubbed her nose, she looked curiously at Yuki who stood rigid and tense.

"Yuki-Kun…" she neared him with a look of concern on her face—but did not touch him, "Is everything okay…?"

Yuki said nothing. He stood there silent and waiting, and nearly vibrated with tension. Something was amiss, it felt like there was another presence—not watching them—but another prescence nonetheless.

Yuki stood stiff—alert to any alien company. He pulled Tohru closer to him, her look of confusion and fright escaping his notice. His hand subconsciously wrapped around Tohru's shoulder protectively as his eyes became observant slits that scanned the leafy trees around them, his ears picking up every sound around them.

"Y…Yuki-Kun…"

Tohru fell silent when Yuki didn't reply, instead he merely encircled her shoulder even more tightly as he continued to inspect the area around them.

Tohru watched him curiously, she peered into his alluring face—her eyes darting across his features. Her eyes observed his unusual purple eyes which were widened with alertness, to his mouth stretched into a taught line of determination. The evident strain on his face from his vigil watch could not mar his unearthly beauty nor the everlasting look of tranquility he had.

Suddenly, Tohru felt Yuki's protective arm drop from around her. She looked around bewildered.

"Yuki-Kun…is everything all right?" she asked nervously.

Yuki gave one last glance around him before looking at Tohru, "Yes, I…thought there was someone…" he trailed off, but quickly continued when he saw Tohru's panicked face, "But it was probably just a squirrel" and added a cheerful smile for effect.

Tohru's eyes were still wide with nervousness, but she smilied—a genuine grin of relief—while holding a hand to her pounding heart.

"I got so scared for a moment" she said with a smile, "You wouldn't believe how fast my heart is pounding!"

Tohru's mouth opened in shock when Yuki placed his hand over Tohru's. He felt the hammering of her heart thudding against her ribcage. _She must have been frantic, _Yuki mentally banged his head against a wall.

Yuki looked down at Tohru, with a look filled with guilt and regret "I'm sorry" he said looking directly into her startled blue eyes, "I didn't mean to scare you"

Yuki looked away, ashamed to look at Tohru to her face.

Tohru gave a small smile and placed her hand into Yuki's, "It's okay Yuki-Kun" she said with complete sincereity, "I know you didn't"

XXXXXXXXXXXX

ANGST! Well not really, but hey! It's something! I'm sorry it's so short, but the chapter would be gazillion pages long if I didn't end it there. I'm pretty sure the next installment will be at least two pages longer…but I wouldn't know, I'm just the author. Lol, all of the KyoXTohru fans are going to eat me for leaving Tohru alone for so long with the 'girly-man'. I actually have no preference so this COULD go either way…we'll just see what happens. Toodles!


	25. The Little Lost Kitty

"Damn it!" Kyo cursed as he passed the same tree had passed three times before. "When did Kazuma's house get so damn big!" he scowled at the passing butterfly, making it's graceful way towards the blazing sunset, it's final rays shining with the fiery intensity of a candle about to die out.

Kyo ran a frustrated hand through his disheveled orange hair, "I must have been wandering around for about an hour!" looking around him, Kyo no longer saw the quaint house in the distance, but was surrounded by a thin foliage of trees

"Crap!" Kyo circled around, but still the unfamiliar scenery remained the same.

Kyo heard rustling up ahead, and maybe some voices, he wasn't sure if he was going in the right direction or if the mysterious noise maker could help him in some way, but it was better then just standing there doing _nothing_, so Kyo being the activist he was, briskly strode off.

XXXXX

"We're almost there" Yuki reassured Tohru for what seemed like the millionth time. All her fidgeting was making Yuki anxious. And Yuki's anxiousness was making Tohru fidget.

"It sure will be nice to see again" Tohru said brightly as she skipped over randomly strewn about rocks, she clumsily collided with bushes, trees, and other inanimate objects.

"Careful Honda-San, it wouldn't do to injure yourself when we're so close-by. I'd say we're about…" Yuki looked off to calculate the distance in his mind, "…about a 10 more minute walk until we get there".

Tohru gave a '_phew'_ in relief, she wiped her forehead with a wheeze, and then laughed.

Yuki looked at her in confusion.

Tohru giggled at the comparison, Yuki still looked crisp and clean and barely breaking a sweat. Whereas she was about to break down, beads of sweat were visible on the delicate arch of her nose, and her breathing was heavy.

"I haven't gone on a walk this long since…" Tohru looked of thoughtfully, "Gosh I can't remember when! No wonder I'm so out of shape!" she grinned good-naturedly at Yuki, her apparent discomfort not affecting her mood at all.

"Who knew that walking could be so fun!" Tohru beamed up at Yuki and happily skipped ahead of him. "La lala la la…"

Yuki took in the innocence of the moment, letting the warm feeling of having no worries wash over him and bathe him in a moment of true peace.

_So this is what it feels like. _

XXXXX

Kyo let out a long string of curses as a couple of branches kissed his cheek, leaving behind a slightly crimson trail.

It took all of Kyo's effort and self-restraint to not tear down every single piece of foliage nearby. His clothes were shredded, his hair was constantly in his eyes, and he had a soggy foot soaked down to the socks—and it squeaked too. All in all,

He was pissed.

"Jeez! Have I really been away from here that long?" He asked himself as he violently bent back a bough that was in his face. He continued thrashing his way towards his undefined goal, but was thoughtful. Ever since Tohru had come into his life, he'd been running away to Kazuma's less and less.

Kyo quickly tilted his head down, hiding his blush from the invisible bystanders. Brushing aside all sentimental thoughts, Kyo continued on his way.

"Damn I'm hungry"

XXXXX

Kazuma quietly sipped his tea as he stared out a small window in his dojo. The sun was setting and it would soon be dark, he once again scanned the land for any sign of the red head.

Seeing nothing, Kazuma shook his head with a light chuckle, "Kyo will be pleased to find he's missed dinner and lunch"

"I would think you'd be more worried" an intruding voice said, stepping onto the dojo's wood floor with noiseless steps.

"I have confidence in my students' abilities" Kazuma said without turning away from the window.

"Too much" the obtrusive presence said, there was a rustle of clothing, and then a heavy click.

Kazuma finally looked away from the window, finding the barrel of a gun in his direction.

"So you've been sent to silence me?" he asked calmly.

The man looked into Kazuma's face with interest, and a mischevious glint shone in his eyes, "We'll just see how much you know"

XXXXX

"Yum! This is delicious!" Mayu said in obvious satisfaction, with great gusto, she cleaned the remnants of dinner of her plate.

"I'm glad you liked it" Hatori said, giving a Mayuko a little smirk.

"Hey!" Mayu said in her defense, "Don't go acting all know-it-all on me! I never said that it _wouldn't_ taste good"

"Uh-huh" Hatori nodded in mock understanding.

Mayuko gave an injured sniff, "I just didn't want to come to a place so fancy is all"

Hatori merely leaned back in his seat, getting a better view of his dinner partner. "I'm just glad you enjoyed it" he said simply.

"Yeah yeah…" Mayuko said with a dismissive wave of her hand, "And don't forget to 'fess up after dinner" she said looking Hatori straight into his eyes.

"Huh?" Hatori said uncharacteristically, "Confess what?" inwardly he scanned his memory banks for the thing Mayuko demanded an explanation for.

"…The bill?" he asked perplexed.

Mayuko just gave an exhausted sigh, "Men…" she muttered.

"No, not the _bill_ Hatori" she said with a roll of her eyes, "You promised that you'd tell me what the heck was going on and why you keep claiming I'm in "danger" "

Hatori inwardly grimaced, he had forgotten. He prayed that something—anything—would prevent him from revealing the awful truth from her.

"Ready to go?" Mayuko asked as she stood up, wiping crumbs from her shirt.

"Yeah" Hatori said hesitantly, "Sure"

Mayuko directed a grateful smile towards him, "Thanks" she said again, "Hey, can I go to the ladies room real quick?" she asked with a small smile.

Hatori nodded, and nearly collapsed with relief. He knew he was procrastinating, and the eventually she _would_ find out the truth…but he really didn't want to tell her.

Hatori (sexily) lounged against the expensively furnsished wall paper in the bathroom hallway (You know, right before it splits off into the the Mens and Ladies room). He absentmindedly observed the various paintings hanging on the opposite wall of him, and the checked his watch.

Mayuko quietly crept out of the bathroom, closing the door with a faint _click_ before nearly tripping over Hatori who stood lounging in the bathroom hallway.

The two walked out, and entered the large brightly lit dinning area, passing by the other customers and towards the entrance.

"Hold on" Mayu said holding a commanding hand up. She curiously began looking around her, her eyes searching ferociously for some mysterious object.

"What is it?" Hatori asked quietly, not knowing what was going on.

Mayuko was silent for a few moments longer, "…Do you smell that?" she asked.

Hatori regarded Mayuko in confusion, was she serious? Her severe and rigid demeanor was caused by a _smell_???

"Do you smell that?" she repeated.

Hatori shrugged and gave in, he delicately sniffed the air and found no smell of significance.

"Uh…that smells _soooo _good" Mayuko said nearly drooling with pleasure.

"What?" Hatori asked in confusion.

"Hey, would you mind if we stayed a bit longer?" Mayuko asked sheepishly.

Hatori glanced from the entrance they were a few yards away from, to the dinning area. Mayuko was looking longingly at the kitchen where the delicious smells were wafting from.

Hatori took out his wallet and gulped.

Nothing.

He had is I.D and driver's license…but not enough to pay for more food. Glancing at Mayuko's wistful face, and then his empty wallet, he put his wallet back in his pocket with a resigned sigh.

_Well…_ he thought, _I did say anything…_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Like yo dudes! Honestly, I didn't think that I would ever update! I'm gonna try to work on my other FruBa story next. But yeah, sorry this wasn't longer, but I just felt like ending it there—Don't eat me!!! Oh, I've finally overcome my severe writer's block (as you guys have noticed) and I finally see the ending for the story. So with some sadness but much relief, I must say that I **believe** that the story will be coming to a close soon. But 'soon' for me means in about 10 more chapters or so. So don't worry, it won't be some two second ending I whipped up and pulled out of my---. I only have two more days of school and then it's summer vacation for me, so I'll probably be able to update more ofter…hopefully. Toodles!!!


	26. Dirty Dishes: The Merry Trio

"Ya' know, you _kinda _forgot to mention this part" Mayuko said in clipped tones as she plunged her arms into the warm, sudsy water.

Hatori said nothing, but kept his head quietly down gently sliding the wiry sponge across the face of the restaurants fancy plates.

"You know…the part where _you had no money left_" she said trying to restrain her anger and disbelief, "And _then_" Hatori winced at the oncoming barrage of words, "_Agreed_" she said this with the utmost incredulity, "to go back for more. What happened to 'knowing the owner'" she mimicked, "If you know the owner, why are we back here washing dishes!"

Sure she felt bad, she _was_ actually the reason that they were washing dishes in a dingy kitchen of the overly pompous restaurant, but _still_! If _he_ hadn't agreed, than that would've been end of discussion, and they would've been happily on their way, and Hatori would have explained…

Mayuko's mouth widened with comprehension when she came to the realization, that (fine, sexy, unbelievably mind-blowingly _hot_) weasel was trying to get out of telling her what was going on!

"Pretty sneaky aren'tcha?" Mayuko said accusingly, she looked into Hatori's face, waiting for him to meet her eye—something he hadn't done since dessert.

"And to think I almost fell for it too" she placed a soapy hand on her hip before continuing.

"You can't keep me in the dark forever you know" she said decidedly, "I'm going to find out one way or another, need I remind you? Highschool teacher" with a 'duh' look.

Hatori sighed, and returned Mayuko's gaze, "Mayu…" he said, trying to gather his words, "I just didn't want you to find out like this" _I didn't want you to find out._

"Well that's not your decision anymore is it?" she asked with pursed lips, "Hatori…" putting her arm down from her hip, the lines of worry etched onto Mayuko's young face were revealed—having someone trying to kill you can have that effect.

"You can't keep me in the dark. We've been," Mayuko prayed that he hadn't noticed her gulp, "_friends_, for a long, long time" she added a smile for sincerity, "I think that you owe that to me"

"I don't know if you've noticed" Mayuko continued, "But the whole 'someone's trying to kill me' thing has been tearing at my insides"

"I didn't like withholding this from you—I didn't _want_ to, and I _do_ think that you deserve to know the truth. Although I don't agree with you knowing now…" Hatori help up a hand, silencing Mayuko when she opened her mouth to protest, "But I'll tell you" he gave a tired smile but continued to wash the dirty plates.

"Let's start with the beginning"

XXXXX

"Oh Yuki-Kun! Is that Kazuma-San's house over there?" Tohru excitedly pointed at a hazy shape rising from just over a hill.

"Yes" Yuki said with a grateful sigh, "That's Kazuma's house"

Tohru twittered to herself with excitement as Yuki quietly and calmly (as always) walked beside her.

He didn't know how it happened, it just did.

Tohru was walking alongside him cheerfully, and in her happy mood, the semi-large rock must've escaped her notice somehow, because suddenly she tripped. Of course, ever worried over the state Miss Honda, Yuki quickly leapt forward to steady her.

"Oh, I'm all right" Tohru said with an embarrassed giggle as she righted herself, "I'm okay" With an inward sigh of relief, Yuki nodded, and retook his place beside her.

Tohru's arm swung, her hand brushing dangerously close to Yuki's. Her energetic pace seemed to make her arm swing ever closer, bringing her warm, loving hand closer towards his.

It seemed, her slim, dainty arm was the pendulum of fate.

Was it accidental? Was his will secretly plotting against his mind and body? He didn't know what it was, but it seemed as though the slight brush of Tohru's soft skin on his, drew his hand closer like a magnet.

Their fingers mingled, slightly intertwining, before separating once again due to the difference of their strides.

Tohru looked up with a faint blush in her cheeks, but quickly turned away and said nothing. Yuki noticed her redden, but remained quiet.

Was it destiny? Or just dumb luck? But somehow, they both ended up walking side-by-side evenly. Yuki's long, slender legs somehow stayed in step with Tohru's shorter ones. Whether she noticed this, Yuki did not know. But their paces remained even and steady, neither one breaking the matching steps, when suddenly, his arm moved—ever so slightly off to his side.

He didn't see her response, but somehow her arm did the same, their hands brushed against one another once again. But this time, her hand did not immediately withdraw; their forefingers seemed glued together by the touch.

They stayed that way for a while, neither one daring to move their hand any further. Until Tohru shyly curled her index finger around his, creating a hook and linking their hands together. She looked away, unable to met her companions' face, bashfully glancing off to the side.

Her eyes widened in surprise when she felt something interrupt her grip, and take hold of another finger.

Yuki had slipped a second finger into her hand, carefully and slowly as to not startle her (Omg, I'm sorry, but this sounds so dirty to me xP). He heard her gasp slightly, and turned to face her.

Tohru glanced up at Yuki curiously, their two joined fingers swinging with their movement. He smiled warmly at her, the still burning rays of sunset contrasted greatly with Yuki's pale gray hair and violet eyes.

XXXXXXXXXX

Oooo am I evil or what? Omg, and I haven't updated in a looong while. I'm not too surprised that so many of you have lost faith in me. ((snicker)) Lol, did that whole last passage piss you off and make you want to kill me? Hehehe…good thing that I'm just messing with ya and that this isn't the end of the chapter! XD

XXXXXXXXXX

The two continued walking in comfortable silence, their hands still joined by the two fingers.

As they neared their destination, a growing rustling sound caught their attention.

"…_help me…"_

"…_believe this…"_

"…_I'm not…"_

"…_dead…" _

Puzzled, Yuki and Tohru came to a halt, what they just heard…what was going on? Could this possibly be related to the presence Yuki had felt earlier?

"God dammit! All those freaking trees! Who the hell needs that many trees anyway?!" A ragged looking Kyo stumbled onto to the path cursing.

"K…K-Kyo-Kun?" Tohru asked with wide eyes, her grip slipping from Yuki's hand.

"Well it ain't no ghost…" he muttered as he rolled his eyes. (Sorry 'bout the attitude towards Tohru, you know that Kyo gets pissy sometimes)

"Yuki-Kun? Was Kyo-Kun the one we heard back there?" Tohru asked.

Glaring at said person (Kyo, not Tohru), "No" Yuki answered, "I can detect _that _much stupidity from a mile away, he wasn't the one" he said scornfully.

"Gee, well this makes sense. I guess you got that huge stick up your ass from walking through the woods" Kyo replied back with disdain.

"At least I knew where I was going" Yuki answered back.

Kyo crossed his arms defensively, "What makes you think I _didn't _know where I was going?" he asked with a sneer.

Yuki rolled his eyes, "You don't turn up looking like that" his eyes roved down reproachfully at Kyo's ragged figure, "When you know where you're going"

"Well maybe that's because I decided to take the _manly_ way. Unlike you, I don't need a "path" to guide me" Kyo said (Mr. Mature he is not)

"Really?" Yuki asked crossing his arms too and raising an eyebrow, "Then how come you winded up here? We're trying to _get_ to Kazuma's house, you_ were_ there" Yuki waited for Kyo to come up with a witty come back, but Kyo said nothing. He merely glared at Yuki with a look filled with extreme dislike.

Yuki barely spared Kyo a second glance before turning back towards Kazuma's house (Kyo came in from behind them).

"But…Kyo-Kun?" Tohru asked, she looked worried, "Then…what was that voice we heard?"

Kyo regarded Tohru with a look of confusion, "What're you talking about?"

"Well…it said: _'Help me…believe this…I'm not dead'_" she repeated, trying to imitate the voice.

"Ohhh, that _was _me" Kyo said with the dawning realization.

Yuki raised his eyebrow again, "'Help you? Believe this?...'I'm not dead'?" he repeated incredulously.

"Shut up!" Kyo yelled, "It's not how it sounds"

_Kyo thrashed through a bush, his effort was rewarded by more scratches added to his growing display, and more rips to his already tattered clothing._

"_So help me…" he cracked his knuckles in a menacing fashion. Extending his hand, Kyo used his claws to slice through the barrage of leaves and plants that were in his face. _

_In his wild movements, he must've bent back a particularly prickly branch. After he had succeeded in removing stray leaves and such from his face, the branch had whipped around and whacked him on the nose. _

"_I can't believe this…" he muttered._

_He continued walking, then he noticed that the tree trunk he'd just passed looked awfully familiar…_

"_I'm not going to lose it…I'm not going to lose it…" he chanted, trying to put himself in a peaceful state of mind, with much strained effort, "I am going to remain…" he took a breath, "calm…"._

_Suprisingly it worked. That was…until he opened his eyes. _

_A growl of rage bubbled inside of his throat, as his eyes met the tree trunk that he passed time and time again._

"_You are so…dead!" he yelled, before launching a fist at the tree. The forceful punch sent Kyo sprawling backwards, tripping over one the trees large and bulky roots, Kyo was sent tumbling backwards. _

"Are you all right?" Tohru asked Kyo concernedly as she flittered over to inspect him, "You're ankles must be sore if you fell backwards"

"Eh," Kyo shrugged and gave a dismissive gesture, "I'm fine"

"And all these scratches…" Tohru gasped at the sight of Kyo's marred body (what was revealed anyway).

"Er…" unsettled by Tohru's closeness, Kyo attempted to step back and did what he always did when in an uncomfortable or awkward situation, insult the rat.

"The one you _should_ be checking is Girly-Man over there!" Kyo said, "Hope you were all right in the big scary forest"

"Don't you have a two year old you can have intellectually stimulating conversations with?" Yuki asked tiredly, "We have somewhere to go" and with that he turned to continue walking.

"But Yuki-Kun…" Tohru said, "We have Kyo-Kun, why are we still going to Kazuma-San's?"

Yuki didn't answer, and Kyo was more than happy to fill in.

"_Now _who's the lost one?" Kyo taunted.

"Don't you need to tell Kazuma that you left and that you're going back home with us?" Yuki didn't give Kyo a chance to speak before continuing, "Typical of the cat, I didn't think that even _you_ were capable of such rudeness. You exceed yourself" Yuki said coldly.

"I'll show you what I'm capable of!" Kyo said getting in fighting stance.

"The sun's going to go down soon" Tohru said (uncharacteristaclly, except when it comes down to people and emotions and crap) observantly, "We should at least go see if Kazuma-San has a flashlight we could borrow"

"Hmph" Kyo shifted back into a regular position, "Fine,"

"Fine" Yuki said after a beat.

And the happy twosome, was now a trio.

XXXXXXXXX

Alright, no dummy ending this time. I just wanted to mess with all the KyoTohru fans out there. I got you good didn't I? I've stayed up till 1 in the morning writing this for you guys, please review! Especially cause I had to haul my lazy ass to get this where it was. I was about to just end it at the dummy ending, but I thought that was too mean. Also! I was wondering if you guys would mind (or even care) if I changed the first chapter, you know, just edited some stuff and make it better overall. Cause my hits go from 5000 down to the 2000 and it's pretty depressing to see that many people stop reading at the first chapter. So please tell me if you have anything against me doing so, you guys are always in my thoughts! Toodles!

P.S-Happy 4th of July!


	27. Secrets Revealed

Mayu's breath caught. Finally, the truth would be revealed. A sudden roiling in her stomach made her feel queasy at the anticipation of finally hearing what had been tearing at her for days. Even though it was the truth, finding out why someone wants you dead doesn't exactly leave you feeling the best. But despite her nervousness, Mayu swallowed down her fear and listened intently to Hatori.

"Mayu…do you recall how Tohru came to be a part of the Sohma residence?" Hatori asked her. Mayuko looked thoughtful as she considered Hatori's question.

"Um…I do know a little bit. I believe that she was found on the Sohma property and Tohru pretty much became their housekeeper. The school didn't give much of the details" Mayu said trying to recall what she knew.

Hatori nodded, "That much, is true. But there's something else that you, and no one else, knows"

XXXXX

_**Flashback**_

_Kazuma finally looked away from the window, finding the barrel of a gun in his direction. _

"_So you've been sent to silence me?" he asked calmly. _

_The man looked into Kazuma's face with interest, and a mischievous glint shone in his eyes, "We'll just see how much you know"_

_**End Flashback**_

"Does it matter?" Kazuma asked.

The man put his gun down, but still kept it in hand and close to his side—ready to shoot if his victim tried to bolt.

"You're not the one we're after" he said, looking almost apologetic.

"Hm, looking at this scene, I would've thought differently" Kazuma said with a raised eyebrow.

"Heh" the man said, "Look, if things go according to plan, no one will have to get hurt" then he considered his words and gave a dark chuckle, "Much"

XXXXX

"Do you know of the landslide that forced Tohru out of her tent on the Sohma property?" Hatori continued. Mayuko just nodded and waited for Hatori to proceed.

Hatori sighed and looked down, then continued after a beat, "Well, that wasn't an accident"

XXXXX

Shigure was quietly sitting in front of the door staring off into space—but not daydreaming—some very complex thoughts were going inside that head.

He was shaken out of his revere but did not stir, when he heard the quiet crackling of the grass and leaves, caused by a light-footed person.

"You still have the look of a silly fool on your face" a soft voice said as a greeting to Shigure.

Shigure continued to stare off. After a beat he faced the newcomer, and gave a humorless smile.

"Ah, my beautiful Akito. How are you?" Shigure asked in a pleasant tone.

Akito just sneered as she regarded Shigure, "Don't waste your breath on pleasantries," she said.

"Hm" Shigure said noncommittally, he turned his gaze away from Akito and looked back into the empty sky, "So why are we once again graced by your presence, all powerful Akito?" he gave a little chuckle, "So much Akito in one week, I feel spoiled" he said mainly to himself.

"In case you were wondering," Shigure continued, not waiting for Akito speak, "They aren't here. Sorry" he said, apologizing that the three were not here for their temperamental God to wreak havoc on.

Akito grinned in evil amusement. "I will remain here until they return," she said, her unpleasant grin never failing.

"I didn't realize you were so fond of them," Shigure said with eyebrows delicately raised in mild surprise.

"Don't make me laugh" Akito said with disgust, "Me fond of those…revolting and disgusting three?"

"No no, Akito" Shigure said getting a roguish grin, "I think that you really do love them. Deep down, in that blackened heart of yours, you secretly yearn for Yuki, Kyo, and Tohru" Shigure chuckled; this girl was so fun to tease.

Akito chuckled evilly also and came closer until she was standing over the sitting Shigure. She placed a thin, clammy hand on his cheek and smiled, a look some might call maniacal, gleaming in her eyes.

"As much as you pretend Shigure, you are not an idiot. You know what I yearn for", she cocked her head to the side while still looking at Shigure, light filtered her eyes. Shigure looked back up at her, never braking contact, and what he saw in her eyes…

Was a murder, a cold hearted murder.

XXXXX

"What do you mean it 'wasn't an accident'?" Mayuko asked with a gasp, "People just don't _do_ those things on purpose, and to Tohru Honda!"

Hatori just nodded, "As you know, Tohru was on Sohma property when it happened"

"When what happened?" Mayuko asked, "I never really heard the details"

"Well…" Hatori sighed again, "There was a landslide," Mayuko gave an audible gasp.

"But she was okay right?!" Mayuko asked worriedly.

"She had a fever when the landslide occurred, but other than that she was fine" Hatori said grimly, "They almost succeeded though" he added.

"'_They'_? Who would want to do such a thing!" Mayuko cried "I'm sure Tohru didn't _mean_ to trespass on Sohma property!…"

"I believe that Tohru is the least deserving person of such an attack, but there's no saving her" Hatori said.

Mayuko scoffed, "Who does this person think he is? God?"

Hatori said nothing, and stared down at the murky and sudsy water. Mayuko didn't know how wrong she was. Akito didn't think she was God.

She _was_ God.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Um…please don't kill me. That's all I ask. ((whimpers)) Sorry it's so short, and forgive me because I'm sure this chapter sucked monkey butt. Because this is the ending of the story, the chapters are more dramatic and it's harder to write them (Well, for me because I'm a sucky half-ass writer). But please spare me your wrath and review. This most unworthy writer thanks you. Toodles!


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